The drinking cup, formed of a small
cocoa-nut shell, presents a simple ornament
scratched with a knife with Selkirk's
own hand, is three inches and a quarter
deep, by two and a half inches diameter.
Mrs Gillies assured the writer, it had
formerly a silver foot and stem, but that
her father had disposed of it. Wanting
that appendage, Sir Walter and Constable
took it to Edinburgh, where the present
foot and stem of rosewood, nearly three
inches high, was added, making the whole
about six inches in height. They also
added the silver band or fillet that
encircles the outside of the cup, bearing Drinking-Cup of Alexander
Selkirk,
this inscription—The Cup of Ala. Selkirk,
whilst in Juan
Fernandez, 1704-9.
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_008/8_256_265.pdf
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_008/8_256_265.pdf
You have to wonder why the guy would have "disposed" of the silver stem and foot, unless he was hard-up at some point.
ReplyDeleteI doubt we will ever know Gorges. But it does make one wonder.
ReplyDeleteKeith.