"Flag flown at Trafalgar for sale" Topic

From the BBC:

Arthur Cory, 49, said the flag had been kept in a cupboard at Penllyn Castle near Cowbridge, since he was a boy.
The flag, one of only three surviving from the battle, is expected to fetch up to £50,000.00 GBP at auction.
It is said to have flown above Nelson's warship HMS Leviathan.
The flag's "most probable" route to Penllyn Castle was through Mr Cory's ancestor Nicholas Cory, a rear admiral on William IV's Royal George yacht, the auction house said.
Roland Elworthy, senior valuer at Holt's Auctioneers, said he had "no doubt as to the flag's provenance".

Not sure you can say HMS Leviathan was Nelsons warship when he was in HMS Victory at the battle.

Hi JD, that's just the BBC dumbing down by name dropping Nelson to link the flag with 'someone famous'.

Not sure you can say HMS Leviathan was Nelsons warship when he was in HMS Victory at the battle.

I noticed that, but they did say "warship" not "flagship". Leviathan was in Nelson's north squadron so you could say that each ship in that squadron was "Nelson's warship".

@olicana

Hi JR, the BBC will soon be calling him Admiral Nelson too!

@MajorB

Not sure I can agree with you, at least that's not how I was taught English grammar when standards were so much higher than they are now.

Not sure I can agree with you, at least that's not how I was taught English grammar when standards were so much higher than they are now.

I didn't say I agreed with it, I just said "you could say" – which is what I think the media report did. Or maybe it was just a mistake and they meant to say "flagship" in the first place!

I heard an interview with the fella from the auction house on Radio 5 earlier. He was saying that the guide price is conservative. I think he said the last one sold went for £360,000.00 GBP, and he's expecting this one to get well into six figures.

@MajorB

OK, am with you.

I get really p'd off with current journalistic standards. You would expect that a professional journalist would have a basic understanding of English grammar (in this country anyway) and that expectation would be higher of the BBC. Maybe I am the fool who doesn't understand.

210 years old and the guy is holding it up like a dishcloth. This heirloom of the country should be in a museum not tarted around like Mrs. Jarvis silver plated teaset. The owner should be given a £100.00 GBP for looking after government property and the flag given to the maritime museum where HMS Victory resides. If I am scathing of Mr Arthur Cory 49 its because it seems he has little regard to what is a grand artifact I don't deny his right to it but his attitude, let's hope it finds a more fitting home than his ancestral family's cupboard and at a reasonable price, we wouldn't want the man to make out like a bandit would we :)
Cheers

Jesus. If I had the money I'd purchase it and donate it immediately to the British Navy to be done with as they please.

Given that you Poms allowed all of the flags captured at Blenheim to turn to dust, this flag might have been better off in a cupboard for the last 200 years.

You don't need to have much exposure to the press to realize that most journalists are pretty much illiterate. It was the sub-editors that actually turned the dross into decent copy, but, of course, the sub-editors were the first to go when the bean counters took over everything ("why do we need sub-editors when the journalists write the stories?").

*some of us Poms AussieAndy, some of us :(* not all of us, I'm in the let's look after every scrap of human history even if it means getting rid of some of those humans that would destroy said scraps. ;) BTW my uncle who is Aussie too says you guys do have great museums there, good on all of you mate :)
Cheerio

I wasn't saying that we would do any better. We are pretty good at destroying our own heritage.