Silver Plate taken at the Battle of Vittoria, 1813 War booty, Napoleon

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Silver Plate taken at the Battle of Vittoria, 1813 War booty, Napoleon:
$1800.00

ca 1813. Silver scalloped rim deep plate taken as spoils of war following the Battle of Vittoria. Engraved within a cartouche on the outer edge of the plate is \"Taken by the 6th or Bragan & A Regt of Portuguese Cavalry/Commanded by Lt. Colonel Diggens in the ever/memorable Battle of Vittoria on the 21st of June 1813.\" Various impressed hallmarks, \"Lion facing to the left\", number \"80\", and \"TRO\";(see photos) Approximately 9 5/8\" in diameter. Approximately 16 ounces of Solid silver- NOT plated --------- The plate is in as found condition with lots of dark tarnish on it and the remains of some tape on the backside of the plate. I think the tape was used to hold a note on the plate explaining the background of the plate, but that note is now missing. I used a plastic pot scrubber to clean some of the gunk and tarnish off the top center of the plate to reveal the silver underneath. The metal tests positive for silver. I have left the rest of the plate in as found condition, and it should clean and polish up very nicely. I will leave that up to the new owner. --------- In December of 2011, a pair of these plates, practically identical to this one, same hallmarks and same cartouche engraving sold in a Paris Sotheby\'s sale for approximately$3800(for a pair) or $1900 each. ------- Condition: some light scub marks where I partially cleaned the plate, which should polish out. The plate is just slightly warped and does not sit completely flat on a flat surface. Otherwise it should clean up and display very nicely. AS WITH ALL OUR ITEMS, AN UNCONDITIONAL GUARANTEE OF SATISFACTION OR COMPLETE REFUND WITH RETURN OF THE ITEM IN CONDITION SHIPPED. SENT INSURED WITH SIGNATURE REQUIRED.

Background:The decisive battle of Vittoria fought during the Peninsula War is notable for the amount of captured French booty. Wellington\'s allied army consisting of British (52,000), Portuguese (28,000) and Spanish troops (25,000) defeated a French army (about 60,000) under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshall Jean-Baptiste Jourdan on July 21, 1813, paving the way for Wellington\'s ultimate (and much celebrated) victory on the Peninsula. Each side lost about 5,000 men with the surviving French retreating from the field in good order after a strong rear-guard action.

The heady allied army was spent from marching and the subsequent fight. Disipline collapsed and the soldiers began to plunder the abandoned Fench camps containing \"the loot of a Kingdom.\" Historical sources estimate that over one million pounds of booty (perhaps 100 million pounds in modern equivalence) was seized, but the gross abandonment of disipline caused an enraged Wellington to pen his (in)famous disparaging remark about the English soldier: \"We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers.\"