Lot 6: An elaborately carved wooden goblet reputedly from Shakespeare's mulberry tree

[SHAKESPEARIANA]
MARSHALL, JOHN. An English carved and turned wood goblet, reputedly made from Shakespeare’s mulberry tree. Stratford-on-Avon: circa 1865. 8 3/4 inches tall, 3 1/4 inches diameter at base (22.5 cm tall, 8.5 cm diameter); turned wood, carved with foliate designs, the top of the base lettered "mulberry wood from Shakespeare's tree at New Place: Stratford On Avon," the underside lettered with "John Marshall. Carver. Stratford on Avon." A few vertical cracks and one small old chip at the base, red painted collection mark from the Wadsworth Athaneum on underside.

An elaborately carved nineteenth century souvenir goblet, purportedly made from the Mulberry tree that Shakespeare planted in 1609 at his home in Stratford-on-Avon, called New Place. The property was purchased by Reverend Francis Gastrell in the mid-eighteenth century. Annoyed by the constant stream of tourists and relic-hunters on his property, the irascible cleric cut the tree down in 1756 and, in 1759, the visitors undeterred, demolished Shakespeare's house. Gastrell then sold the wood from the tree and house to various local wood carvers, before being forced to leave Stratford by his increasingly irate neighbors. In the mid-nineteenth century, the carver and antiquarian John Marshall apparently acquired the remaining wood associated with Shakespeare, which he used to create a variety of artefacts that he sold at his shop. Regardless of whether the wood is truly or provably from Shakespeare's own mulberry tree, this is a fine and expertly carved example of one of these rare relics from The Bard's backyard.