Copake Bidders Bank On Floor Globe Dedicated To Nineteenth Century Naturalist – Antiques And The Arts Weekly

COPAKE, N.Y. – Copake Auction’s July 29 estate sale offered up more than 800 estate-fresh lots, including estate furnishings and garden and outdoor items. Standing tall in the lineup was a Nineteenth Century terrestrial floor globe, which spun way past its $800-$1,200 estimate to finish at $15,000, inclusive of buyer’s premium, selling to a bidder in Australia. That may be because the 42-inch-high globe was marked “Sir Joseph Banks, Bar K.B.,” “The New British Terrestrial Globe,” providing some historical context. Banks (1743-1820) was president of the Royal Society in London and had served as a botanist on Captain James Cook’s first voyage in the ship Endeavour (1768-1771), giving Banks the opportunity to collect plants from previously unexplored habitats. More on this sale to follow.