A Nottingham man's Everest Expedition food package from 1953 is expected to sell for thousands as it goes up for auction at Hansons London on October 29. It is one of many mementoes which have been collected by the event's official cameraman, Tom Stobart, and the package is expected to reach between £10,000 to £20,000.
The packet, which contained food for famous adventures during the first successful British ascent of Mount Everest in the 1950s, is part of an 'incredible archive' set to be auctioned. The used foil package, which has the official Everest Expedition label, contained cocoa, orangeade powder and a banana bar.
The package is signed by John Hunt, who led the expedition, and fellow mountaineers Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. The signatures, though faded, are visibly inscribed 'Everest '53' by Hunt. The memento was kept by Tom Stobart, a British cameraman, filmmaker and author from 1914 to 1980. As the official cameraman on the expedition, he was able to capture footage to create a film of the event, The Conquest of Everest.
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Items collected by Tom throughout his lifetime of adventure include a pickaxe used during the Tibetan Hunt for the Abominable Snowman in 1954. The archive also includes camera equipment, scientific instruments and ephemera. The items have been treasured throughout the decades by Tom's son Patrick Stobart who is based in Nottingham.
At the age of 77, Patrick has decided to part with it to ensure his father's historical archive is preserved. Patrick travelled by road to Tehran in Iran with his father to film Adenvenure On at the age of 16. He also worked as a wildlife biologist in Africa.
He said: “I hope the collection may go to a museum. I am extremely proud of my father and my grandfather Ralph Stobart. He was also a mountaineer. There is a microscope in the collection coming up for auction used by all three of us.
“The framed food packet, which I displayed on the wall in my home, is particularly interesting. It was made of lightweight foil to make it easy to carry and preserve food during the seven-week expedition. I also like a canvas painting of the Wheel of Life which was donated to my father in 1953 by a Tibetan Buddhist monastery on the slopes of Everest. He carried it with him throughout the expedition," he added.
Other mementoes in the collection include tickets and an official programme for the first screening of The Conquest of Everest, attended by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. Thomas Stobart is listed in the credits as the filmmaker.
It also contains an original letter of invitation to meet members of the Everest Expedition at London Airport which is dated June 30, 1953. The achieve also includes black and white photos of Tom along with numerous newspaper cuttings recoding the expedition and 'Yeti Hunt'.
The camera equipment includes a Paillard Bolex H-16 Reflex 16mm cine camera, which was possibly used by Tom during the hunt for the Abominable Snowman; a Paillard Bolex Swiss-made speed-control motor and an Adam's Minex, London, De Luxe Model plate camera.
Scientific Instruments on offer include 19th-century microscopes and cabinets packed with specimen slides of things such as leaf scales, pollen grains, fungal spores, insect antennae, marine biology, and sections of butterfly wings and feathers, some from Australia and Peru.
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “This is an incredible collection which reminds us of a significant moment in history. After years of dreaming about it, New Zealander Edmund Hillary (1919-2008) and Nepalese Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986) reached the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, on May 29, 1953. They were the first people to ever reach the summit. Tom captured the emotion of the moment on film."
“In fact, he captured some of the most famous expeditions and achievements in human history. During his career, he followed a team of scientists exploring Antarctica in 1949, as well as the Tibetan hunt for the Abominable Snowman in 1954. It’s an honour to offer this important historical archive at auction. We hope it will attract museum interest.”
Tom was born in Darlington, County Durham and attended Sheffield and Cambdirge University. Adventure was always his calling and he went on an expedition to the Himalayas in 1946 and an expedition to North Queensland. He also made the official film of the 1949-50 Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition.
During the 1953 Everest challenge, John Hunt recalled that Tom had a ‘seemingly endless repertoire of adventure stories’. Tom was left partially disabled after being shot twice in the legs during a filming trip to Ethiopia in 1956. He died suddenly in 1980 at the age of 66 as he was planning to release a range of chutneys based on his recipes with his son. The Tom Stobart archive, lot 50, will be offered on Saturday, October 29 at Hansons Auctioneers’ London Auction.
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