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Lidded Chinese porcelain bowl with original letter from ca. 1895 attesting to 1875 salvage, ex-Göthe

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:800.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Lidded Chinese porcelain bowl with original letter from ca. 1895 attesting to 1875 salvage, ex-Göthe
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Lidded Chinese porcelain bowl with original letter from ca. 1895 attesting to 1875 salvage, ex-Götheborg (1745). 637 grams total. 5" tall, 7" diameter. Impressive bowl and lid exhibiting a blue floral design under glaze with gold overlays and brightly colored enamel butterflies and flowers added, a rare intact piece from the East Indiaman Götheborg whose cargo was laden with ceramics from China. Even the accompanying letter has antique value, handwritten in cursive on aged paper, stating "Recovered (with others) in the year 1875 from the wreck of the Barque 'Göteborg,' in the East India Merchant Service which ran aground at a place now called Göteborgegrundet (coast of Sweden) in the year 1745." The letter goes on to say the artifact was "Recovered by divers after it had been submerged 130 years" (i.e., 1875) and "therefore nearly 150 years old," which establishes that the letter was written ca. 1895. Modern salvage of the ship took place in the 1980s, and a Swedish replica of the ship was launched in June 2003, but we have no evidence that any other artifacts from this wreck are in private hands. From the Götheborg, with small, handwritten letter attesting to its salvage in 1875.