Leopard Antiques Antique Silver Oar - Weymouth Regatta Rowing Prize

Antique Silver Oar - Weymouth Regatta Rowing Prize

Reference: S1381 Period: Victorian Year: 1870 Silversmith: Thomas Bartlett Place: London Price: $ 200.00 Weight: 20 grams Dimensions: 20.3 cm Condition: Excellent, perfectly preserved in original case. Box condition good, hinge and clasp in full working order. Description: A lovely antique silver oar, a rowing prize for the Weymouth Regatta of 1870. Silver oars were popular prizes at regattas during early to mid Victorian times in England. The oar has good detail, including textured blade and locking pin. The oar is engraved "Weymouth Regatta, 1870, H.B. Winter, BOW", and has small but clear and well struck hallmarks. The original box has it's retailer label, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths, Lincoln Inn. Thomas Bartlett worked from St. John street in Clerkenwell, where he specialised in gold pens (Culme, Gold and Silversmiths). The Weymouth Regatta still exists today, although now it is a sailing event, held in Weymouth Bay and Portland harbour, the sailing venue for the 2012 Olympic games. Weymouth has a current rowing club, who row Cornish pilot gigs at sea - these craft were used to take pilots out to oncoming ships in the Atlantic approaches. We imagine this prize was awarded for traditional flat water rowing on a river, probably the river Wey.

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