Unmissable sail... Nautical memorabilia cruises to a new home at Morphy's

Paul Fraser Collectibles -

A selection of ships' music boxes and a fantastic scale model are going under the hammer.

Collecting nautical memorabilia is a surprisingly popular hobby, and so it is that Morphy's auction house has assembled a substantial selection of items for sale for collectors.

In fact over 1,000 artifacts and pieces of ephemera from vintage ocean liners, historic vessels and newer cruise ships will be going under the hammer in an auction which concludes later this month.

Items include: liferings, china, souvenir spoons, photographs, ship models, postcards, advertising materials, prints and other items too numerous to mention.

One of the highlights is a Rookwood Faience Rondel Ship Scene Tile. Surrounded by contemporary ceramic tiles and housed in a contemporary oak frame.

There is some crazing on the Rookwood tile and minor separation between the contemporary tiles but in general it remains in excellent condition and is expected to sell for £2,000-3,000 ($4,650).

Interestingly, three of the top lots are music boxes. Most of these are metal, including an impressive antique handpainted metal Isola Bella music box made some time around 1860. Marked "Guillot" and number "2504", it still plays well and sold for $2,000-4,000.

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