Among the Antarctic lots in the Travel & Exploration sale at Bonhams, the outstanding result came for a group of three glass jugs with silver lids, rims and, in two cases, hanging labels marked ‘Whiskey’.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Ian McKay

These fittings bore a London hallmark for 1908 and the 10cm (4in) high jugs, their lids bearing the monogram RFS, are thought likely to have been a wedding gift to Robert Falcon Scott. In that year he married Kathleen Bruce in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court.

The jugs were last seen at auction in 1985, as part of a consignment of silver items engraved for Scott that were sent for auction at Hatton Garden Auctions by his son, Sir Peter Scott.

A copy of that earlier sale catalogue and related documentation were part of the lot.

They took a bid of £22,000 – 10 times the high estimate – at the sale on February 26.

The buyer’s premium was 27.5/25/20/13.9%.