The Figurehead Archives
Six of the Best
Figureheads sold at Anderson & Garland.
The Second week in December from the 7th to the 10th saw the last sale of the year for Anderson & Garland the premier Auction house in the North East, broke all known 
ecords with four days of spectacular lots covering every facet of fine Art and Antiques, of particular interest has been the incredible private Maritime collection of a local Sunderland resident, built up over 60 years this had something for everyone.
Not all that long ago looking for a book on the subject of Ships Figureheads was very much limited to a few “General” works on the subject, exploring as they did the tradition on both Merchant and Naval vessels, offering the reader a narrow insight into both subjects, for anyone interested in primarily Naval Figureheads “Old Ship Figureheads and Sterns” by L G Carr Laughton published in 1925 has been the principal source of information, dealing with the style and construction of decorative carved work on and around the bow and stern of vessels, as well as British Naval Figureheads, Laughton also deals with the tradition of decoration in other major European nations, such as France, Spain, The Netherlands and Scandinavia, with a number of re-prints over the years this I am sure will continue to be one of the primary sources of information, when Laughton began to write his book during the first quarter of the twentieth century.
Phil Hudson a close and lifetime friend of Richard has acquired the 21 meter Motor Vessel Chalice which is currently moored on the River Dart in Dartmouth South Devon. This is a very unique and new opportunity to enjoy a 'floating' bed & breakfast on board Chalice.
Standing in front of a massive ships Figurehead one is in awe of the skill, effort and time that went in to the creation of such icons of the sea, size and weight held little fear for the eighteenth and nineteenth century carvers, the original Figurehead of HMS Victory when she was built in 1765 stood a staggering 24 feet high and over 18 feet broad, the shear weight of wood needed to create this monster of a carving is difficult to imagine, if we turn the time clock forward over 200 years, we find a modern day craftsman keeping the skill of figurehead carving alive, only this time the amount of materials need in wood and the size of workshop is staggeringly small, the American Lloyd McCaffery has a skill equally as astounding as that given to our ancestors, only this time in reverse, his creations are figureheads in miniature, breathtaking gems of the carvers art, that take weeks and months to create Lloyd offers an insight in to creations. 