£700
Taxidermy. A polar bear skin rug, Rowland W Ward Ltd, early 1970's
Provenance: Shot by the vendor, a member of an expedition to North Peary Land in 1969.
Reluctantly shot on Wednesday 21st May at Kape Cane. In his (unpublished) diary the vendor recorded "after the 1800 radio check we found that the bear had been watching us from the ridge 30ft behind the tents & we started to get really worried. ...I ruled that no one was to leave the camp area alone, and we posted a sentry on the scree above the camp to watch the bear with binoculars. He was now about 1 and a half to 2 miles away sleeping on some ice. After talking for some time we decided that if the bear returned we would have to kill him on the following grounds
1) we had already lost 10 days rations and group two four man-days thus using up our safety margin
2) we considered it likely to attack a single person as soon as it got the chance
3) It was hungry after the winter and more likely to be dangerous
4) If we waited for it to attack the chances of at least one of us being badly hurt before it could be shot were high
Against the shooting were the following
1) It's a protected animal and although uncommon on the north coast are not at all rare of the east coast of Greenland
2) We were trespassing on its ground
3) We could probably have kept scaring it away if we kept a permanent watch... [but] what if we can't scare it away & it attacks...?
The bear did return again and, very regretfully, was shot "...I don't think I shall ever want to shoot another animal again... after some coffee I felt better and set about skinning it with the aid of my army knife".
The skin was preserved with an over-supply of salt in the rations, then on return to the UK was cured and backed by Rowland Ward of London.
Good condition, lacking the Rowland Ward Ltd trade label to the lining which has been mislaid
Fees apply to the hammer price:
Room and Absentee Bids:
28.80% inc VAT*
Online and Autobids:
30.6% inc VAT*
