Have you ever really wanted to add something extra special to your silver stack but it seemed a little unattainable? I work hard to add silver to my collection and whilst I can't add as much as I'd like I manage to throw a few bucks away each week permitting me to purchase a few silver rounds here and there. My latest acquisition to my silver stack was a little different than I'd bought before; I grabbed a Perth Mint 10oz kookaburra coin which is simply awesome however now I'm squirrelling my spare change away for the next piece.
I have located the piece I want however it's probably going to take some effort, a little more than usual, to acquire it. You can see it pictured above. It's located at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is still lived in by the current Duke of Marlborough and his family.
The (soon to be mine) piece sits in the Saloon, the Palace's grand reception room (originally) but is now the State Dining Room still used to this day by the present Duke of Marlborough and his family. You're probably wondering how I got a photo of my new (yet to be acquired) silver piece right? Well, I had to scope out the surroundings, you know, check out the lay of the land so I went on a tour of the Palace.
The silver piece itself is a 50kg (110lbs) hunk of silver originally commissioned by the 6th Duke in 1845. It depicts the 1st Duke, (John Churchill 1st Duke of Marlborough 1650-1722), on his horse writing a dispatch attended by his aide, Colonel Parke. The dispatch heralded news of the great victory against the Franco-Bavarian forces in the Battle of Blenheim and the Colonel rode back to England in only eight days to break the news to the 1st Duchess, Sarah, and then to Queen Anne at Windsor Castle. The dispatch to his wife said:
"I have no time to say more but to beg you will give my duty to the Queen, and let her know her army has had a glorious victory"
The Palace at Blenheim is filled with priceless tapestries depicting the battle and the scene of the 1st Duke writing the dispatch. It's actually called the Blenheim Dispatch and is still available to view.
The 1st Duke, John Churchill pictured above right and one of the huge tapestries that festoon some of the walls of the Palace to the left.
Just as an interesting aside I want to mention that Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim. He is a descendant of John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of England during the Second World War and is largely attributed to orchestrating the strategy to win it, along with others. There's a huge Winston Churchill display at the Palace which was super-interesting. Anyway, I digress, I'll do a post about that some other time...This is about SILVER!
So, I've cased out the location and situation and now am waiting for my chance to acquire this lovely piece of silver to bring home for my collection. I'm not sure when the acquisition will take place however when it does I certainly won't be writing about it! I think Blenheim Palace may take an interest in that post should I ever write it.
A few extra photos of Blenheim are below. I'll do a proper post on it someday I guess, but not this day.
The Palace itself above. Left is the rear and right is from the front.
We walked around the grounds which was really nice and above is a couple of views over the lake.
Note: Quite obviously I have no intention of removing the silver piece from Blenheim in a heist of any nature. It just entertained me to write this post in this way.
