Polychrome figurehead of 19th-century collier brig, in the form of a half-length male figure in contemporary civilian dress of a red coat and black cravat/ bow-tie, with a high shirt collar. The ship from which this comes is not known but the portrait figure – of a long-nosed man with short hair and long sideburns – is probably that of its owner or someone in a related family. It is said to be from a north-eastern collier brig, which were typically of around 250 tons and carried about 20 keels (424 tons) of coal from the Tyne to London. The length of such ships was typically about 100 feet. The figurehead was purchased for the Museum for £15 by Sir James Caird in November 1947, from a Mr H. Le Ney of Whitstable, Kent. It was restored and exhibited at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and has been on loan to the Bembridge Maritime Museum, Isle of Wight since 1978. (NMM neg B3832, B&W and col. tran).