( 111 ) 



THE SALE OF THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND'S 

 MUSEUM IN 1786. 



BY 



H. S. GLADSTONE, m.a., f.z.s. 



Ix 1 91 8 I purchased a copy of A Catalogue of the Portland 

 Museum, lately the Property of the Duchess Dowager of Portland, 

 deceased : which will be sold by auction by Mr. Skinner & Co. 

 on Monday, the 24th day of April, 1786, and the thirty- 

 seven following days. This catalogue is included by Messrs. 

 Mullens and Kirke Swann in their Bibliography of British 

 Ornithology (1917) pp. 477-8, and they give an interesting 

 account of the collection and its owner. My copy is annotated 

 with the names of the purchasers and the prices, of each 

 lot, and it may therefore be of interest to place on record 

 these details so far as they relate to British birds. 



The student of present-day sales is at once struck by the 

 bargains (from a modern point of view) that were then going 

 a-begging. During the thirty-eight days 4,156 lots were 

 sold for £10,976 I2s., the most famous item being probably 

 the " celebrated antique vase, or Sepulchral Urn, from the 

 Barberini cabinet," which was bought by Tomlinson, on 

 behalf of the Duke of IMarlborough, for ^1,029. The Portland 

 Museum was chiefly de\'oted to conchology, and this is 

 not the place to gloat over the low prices realized for prints, 

 drawings, jewels, china, miniatures, snuff-boxes, articles of 

 virtu, objets d'art, etc., etc. ; the fate of the ornithological 

 lots was as follows : — 



(p. 38.) BIRDS' EGGS. 



Lot. Purchaser. Price. 



909 Sixteen species of Birds' Eggs, mostly 



English — some of them rare ; amongst 

 them the Gold and Silver Pheasant, 

 and a Parrot's Egg ... ... ... Cash o 10 6 



910 Thirty cards of Eggs of British Birds, 



some of them scarce — labelled... ... do. o 10 o 



911 .\ number of cards, containing Eggs of 



British and foreign Birds, many of 



them rare ... ... ... ... do. o 10 6 



912 Nineteen large and small cards, of 



various Eggs, chiefly of sea Birds and 



the Hawk kind ... ... ... do. 050 



913 A box divided into 36 partitions, con- 



taining many curious Eggs, mostly 



of sea Birds, labelled, from Scotland... do. 090 



914 Various Eggs of large marine and land 



Fowls ... ... ... ... ... do. 060 



