A rare 鈥渟elfie鈥� taken at the South Pole during Robert Falcon Scott鈥檚 ill-fated Antarctic journey of 1911-1912 has sold at auction for 拢12,500 this week.
The print, taken from the original glass-plate negative found with the bodies of the explorers, shows the team of five standing at the pole on 18 January 1912, immediately following their discovery that they were not the first to arrive. They had been beaten by a team led by Norwegian Roald Amundsen.
The original print was one of a number of lots from the collection of an unnamed seller up for purchase at Sotheby鈥檚 London auction room on 14 November.
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As well as its obvious historical significance, it is also one of the earliest unposed photographs to show the raw emotion of a newsworthy event. The pain of failure is written across the faces of the men, the exertion of the two-and-a-half-month haul to the pole added to their bitter disappointment and demoralisation cannot be hidden.
It was effectively one of the first selfies, taken by team member Henry Bowers who pulled on a string to start the exposure. And, of course, when the photograph was taken, none of the men knew if the exposure had been successful. Only when it was returned to Europe could people see the defining image from a tragic story that had gripped the world.
Golden era of exploration
The sale also included items from other expeditions during that golden era of polar exploration. Mirroring Scott鈥檚 tragedy was Amundsen鈥檚 book Sydpolen, detailing in two volumes his successful polar attempt and, significantly, the safe return of the explorer and his team. Poignantly, this was printed in 1912, before the fate of Scott鈥檚 team was known.
There was also a copy of Ernest Shackleton鈥檚 The Heart of the Antarctic, which tells the story of his 1907-09 Nimrod expedition, signed by Shackleton and presented to his friends in the London taxi shelter at Hyde Park Corner, plus a vellum-bound version of the same publication signed by the whole team. The latter fetched 拢13,750.
Yet perhaps the most human of the lots was a fork and spoon engraved with 鈥淏ritish Antarctic Expedition, Terra Nova R.Y.S.鈥�, which had been used at base camp throughout the three years of Scott鈥檚 failed expedition. 鈥淭o be able to touch what they touched, doing what they did brings the story so much closer,鈥� said Cecilie Gasseholm, junior cataloguer for Sotheby鈥檚.
She is right. To realise that these would have been handled by the five men who traversed and died on the southern continent a century ago adds a poignancy that even the stuffy confines of a city centre auction room could not dissipate.
What a shame none of the lots were bought for the British Museum.
