Original British Victorian Era Cased Massive Carving Set Marked to 7th Earl of Cardigan’s Yacht DRYAD Original Items

Original Items: One of a Kind. This is just about the largest Carving knife and fork set that we have ever encountered. They are truly MASSIVE. Beautifully presented in a in a Satin and Velvet lines wood case, each item is engraved on the Silver pommels with an Earl’s CORONET over DRYAD.  The handles are made from very large Antler horns, the knife blade alone measures a full 14″, 21″ with the handle. The fork is 12″ long, with tines just over 4″ in length, and a guard to prevent the knife from sliding up the fork. The quality wood case measures 22 1/2″ long X 5 1/2″ deep and over 3″ tall. The fork has no maker marks, but the knife is marked with:

CLEGG & BARTON
SHEFFIELD

From the engravings on the pommels, we can show that these were the property of the 7th Earl Of CARDIGAN, who was commander of the ill-fated Crimean War cavalry charge of October 25th 1854, known later as the THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. It was this event that inspired Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, which has the line: “Into the Valley of Death, rode the six hundred”. TrulyOne of Great Britain many Military catastrophes.

The flamboyant Earl lived on his luxury yacht the DRYAD, moored in Balaclava harbor while on Campaign in the Crimean War. His personal swift “retreat” on the battlefield after the Charge later caused accusations of Cowardice, but nothing was ever legally concluded. He lived a high life style, as you may remember being represented by TREVOR HOWARD in the 1968 Movie THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE with David Hemmings.

So from his fabulous Yacht we offer the 7th Earl of Cardigan’s massive Cased Carving Set, marked DRYAD, ready to use or ready to display.