Potter & Potter Auctions will hold a 430 lot sale related to the Lieutenant Nobu Shirase and  Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1912 (The Collection of Chet Ross)  to be held on October 12th, 2023.
 
Mr. Ross authored the only bibliography about this important expedition and more than 50 little known publications used for this research are also on offer for very first time.

The first half features Mr. Ross' historic collection and this second half includes materials related to exploration, travel, and the polar regions. This sale will be held live at Potter & Potter's gallery, located at 5001 W. Belmont Avenue in Chicago and will also be live streamed on the company's website at www.potterauctions.com. Phone and absentee bids are welcome.

The top lot in the sale is the original 35mm motion picture camera used to film parts of Richard E. Byrds'  first Antarctic expedition. The footage would be used to produce the film “With Byrd at the South Pole,” issued in 1930. (est. $30,000-50,000). The historic camera was made in New York by Akeley Camera around 1922, has a metal body with an adjustable aperture shutter, and is mounted on a wood and metal tripod with a rubber eyepiece.

This camera was used between 1928-30 by Paramount Publix Corporation cinematographers Willard Van der Veer and Joseph T. Rucker, the duo who would become the first professional cinematographers in Antarctica. They travelled extensively across the Antarctic; their transport included ships, aircraft, a Model A Ford, and dog sleds. They filmed on two 35mm hand-cranked Akeley cameras and produced an astounding 200,000 feet of 35mm black and white film. For their efforts, Van der Veer and Rucker won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, the first film documentary to win an Oscar.

Ernest H. Shackleton's The Heart of the Antarctic, Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909 and The Antarctic Book. Winter Quarters 1907-1909, is estimated at $20,000-30,000. Printed in London by William Heinemann in 1909. This first limited edition, in three volumes (number 104 of 300 copies) is signed by 16 members of the shore party including Shackleton. It is considered to be the “most luxurious publication ever to have appeared during the ‘heroic’ age of Antarctic exploration," according to Taurus.

A very limited - if not one-of-one - reproduction of Nobu Shirase's Shirase Nankyoku Tanken Kiroku/Lt. Shirase’s Antarctic Expedition film, is estimated at $15,000-25,000. The footage includes preparation for departure, the journey south, the return to and stay in New Zealand, the second attempt to reach Antarctica, landfall on the Antarctic Continent, and the return to Japan. This copy was given to Chet Ross by the Assistant Director of the Memorial Hall of the Shirase Expeditionary Party to the South Pole in November, 2010. This black and white DVD format film runs for 55 minutes and 54 seconds and is housed in an elegant aluminum case.

A rice paper folded fan with a poem signed and dated by Shirase (est. $12,000-15,000), previously unknown and unrecorded, is dated August 1, 1912 and is handsomely framed and matted and measures 330 x 546 mm overall. The poem is possibly based on an old Chinese story from 2000 years ago and conveys the emotion that we shall show our strength and express our love and peace, and roughly translates to, “The big wind of south dark peak sweeps the dust of North Sea”.

The original auxiliary deck wheel from the USS Bear - probably the most famous ship in the history of the Coast Guard - is estimated at $10,000-15,000. It is 30" in diameter and is made from Scottish hardwood with brass fittings, including the knob for due north. In 1928, Byrd purchased the USS Bear to be used as one of two ships for his first Antarctic expedition to establish his research base at Little America. He would again use Bear on a second Antarctic expedition in 1933. These important expeditions resulted in important discoveries related to weather, climate, and geography.

For more information please contact Chris Brink at (773) 472-1442 or chris@potterauctions.com.