gb0551ms-33-44

Transcription

[Page] 44
[continued from page 43]

“expects etc.” with a certain amount of floral
decoration, while the other was richly
engraved with the picture of a sea fight
and the legend “The defeat of the French
Fleet off San Domingo” April 1812. I am
not sure of the date, it was however, subse:
:quent to that of Trafalgar. I examined the
glasses very critically in the shop, their
weight was satisfactory so was their “tint,
but I was not quite happy in my mind
about the shape, or the Trafalgar reference.
The price £15 if they were genuine was by
no means excessive. The dealer said they
were brought to him by a lady in whose family
they had long been, and while he would give
no guarantee he believed them to be genuine.

[Margin] 10th Mar. 1945
What a fool I
was! Only in this
month’s Black:
:wood did I
find out about
the defeat of the
French fleet of
San Domingo
The battle was
fought by Adm. [Admiral]
Keats one of Nel:
:son’s men and
a devoted admirer.
Hence the reference
to Trafalgar. The
episode has re:
:ceived but little
mention in history
I might have realised that a “fatsu” would not have produced a picture of
a battle hardly known. I believe now these glasses would be worth over £100! ---

I decided to buy them & had them sent home.
No sooner did I see them in my own house
in a good light than I at once felt convinced
that they were spurious. I drew a cheque
in favour of the dealer handed it to him &
asked him to send for his glasses & resell
them. “How much would I like for them
he asked” as he thought he could easily make
a good profit. I, however, said I wished
my money back & no more. An examination

of the goblets revealed the following conditions.
The general tint of the glass was greyish, looking
at the surface through a strong magnifying glass
I could detect that it had all been finely scratched
and that all the scratches & engraved lines were
filled with a dark composition which looked like
lamp. black. Around one of the goblets was
a band about ¾ inch deep of diamond cutting.
This band at one spot for a length of about an
inch was absolutely clean & bright while the rest
presented a uniform grey appearance. The
glass, which forms the bases of all the large
glasses I possess, is much striated as if the
metal had been rather thick when worked, in
modern glass the feet of such glasses are of
absolutely homogeneous material, perfectly
clear throughout. Of the latter quality was the
glass of the bases of the goblets. Lastly I could
not find that there had been any defeat of
the French fleet off San Domingo subsequent
to Trafalgar! There was no French fleet left
to defeat! I was very doubtful if I would
get my money back & rather disgusted with
myself for having been taken in. A week
or two ago the dealer informed me that he
had sold the glasses & sent me a cheque
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