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Robert Fulton

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Robert Fulton

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Auction Date:2016 Sep 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Extraordinary original drawing of a submarine moored offshore accomplished by Fulton in ink and watercolor on an off-white 18.75 x 13 sheet, identified at the top as “Sketch the Second,” and signed in the lower margin, “R. Fulton, 13th Messidor an 3 [June 22, 1805].” Encapsulated in a mylar sleeve. In very good to fine condition, with scattered wrinkling, soiling, and foxing, and several tears repaired on the reverse.

This submarine resembles Fulton’s famous Nautilus, the first practical submarine in history, which was designed between 1793 and 1797 before being successfully tested in 1800. Although the French Navy was interested in the development, Napoleon wrote Fulton off as a charlatan and refused to pursue funding the invention. Fulton was then recruited by England to develop military hardware—including the first modern ‘torpedoes’—in addition to designing preliminary plans for a second submarine. However, Fulton’s second design was abandoned after the Royal Navy’s 1805 victory at Trafalgar, and his work became largely ignored; frustrated, he returned to American shores in 1806. A superb original drawing by one of the most innovative minds of the 19th century.