Auctioneer Sweeney Kincaid is selling the contents of the large Eyemouth World of Boats collection held at locations at Eyemouth, Cardiff and Lowestoft. Be quick, for it closes 12 Noon on Wednesday 26th July.
The item are being sold under the instructions of the liquidators of Eyemouth International Sailing Craft Association Limited (Eisca), a Scottish registered charity.
It is a genuinely big sale, with some 270 boats from around the world including working boats from the UK and round the world (fancy buying a junk, sampan, a pearling dhow or an Azorean whaleboat?) classic racing dinghies, a currach, and a gorgeous North American Whitehall skiff. There really is some very interesting stuff here…
There’s also a photo archive, books and maritime ephemera. To get a sense of it and find items you might be interested in, see the online listing.
The collection started life at the Exeter Maritime Museum (ISCA) in 1968 and was added to during the time it was in the hands of Eisca.
Frankly, it’s a stunning collection – and I don’t think we’ve seen anything like it since Turk’s sold its collection of boats used for film and television work some years ago. Both sales underline the fragility of collections held in the private and voluntary domains – if things don’t go well, at any moment collections and material can be lost, including both the artefacts and the information about them.
The entire contents of Eisca locations throughout the UK will be auctioned individually, here online, closing online on Wednesday 26th July at 12 noon.
This is a small national tragedy. It would be wonderful if the National Maritime Museum (who actually DO have storage space, at Chatham) were to step in, but the fact that they have not done so, whilst they must have been aware of the EISCA’s travails, suggests that they will not do so.
want the whaler !
Seen the collection in the barn in Eyemouth…
Very impressive, would be a shame to see the collection not staying together…