A used lunch packet from the first British ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 will fetch £20,000 at auction as part of an extraordinary archive from the renowned expedition.
The box contained cocoa, orangeade powder, and a banana bar to sustain the courageous explorers 69 years ago as they created history by climbing the world’s tallest mountain.
It is branded with an authentic Everest Expedition label and signed by Colonel John Hunt, the British Army commander who headed the victorious expedition.
Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, who were the first to reach the summit, have also signed the envelope bearing the inscription “Everest 1953.”
Tom Stobart, a British cinematographer, filmmaker, and screenwriter, cherished the keepsake and gave it to his son Patrick before his death in 1980.
Tom was the expedition’s official videographer and was able to collect footage for the film The Conquest of Everest, which earned him an OBE.
The trip was the ninth attempt to scale Everest, and the news of its triumph reached London in time for the June 2 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
It took a team of 15 climbers seven weeks to reach the summit of the 29,030-foot (8,870-meter) Himalayan mountain, which sits 8,870 meters above sea level.
Tom has accumulated a collection of objects during his lifetime, including a pickaxe he used during the 1954 Tibetan Hunt for the Abominable Snowman.
The archive, which contains cameras, scientific tools, and ephemera, might fetch between £10,000 and £20,000 on October 29 at Hansons London.
A used lunch packet from the first British ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 will fetch £20,000 at auction as part of an extraordinary archive from the renowned expedition. The box contained cocoa, orangeade powder, and a banana bar to sustain the courageous explorers 69 years ago as they created history by climbing the world’s tallest mountain. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay pose for a portrait at the 1953 Everest display, pictured to the right. They were the first humans to reach the pinnacle of the mountain.
Tom has accumulated a collection of items during his lifetime, including a pickaxe he used during the 1954 Tibetan Hunt for the Abominable Snowman. The archive, which contains cameras, scientific tools, and ephemera, might fetch between £10,000 and £20,000 on October 29 at Hansons London.
Tom Stobart (shown), a British cinematographer, filmmaker, and screenwriter, handed the memento on to his son Patrick before his passing in 1980. Tom was the expedition’s official videographer and was able to collect footage for the film The Conquest of Everest, which earned him an OBE.
Mr. Stobart, a 77-year-old company director from Nottingham, has cherished the collection for decades but has decided to sell it so that it can be preserved for future generations.
Mr. Stobart, who accompanied his father on a filming trip to Tehran, Iran, when he was 16 and worked as a wildlife scientist in Africa, stated, ‘I hope the collection will be donated to a museum.
“I am incredibly proud of both my father and grandfather, Ralph Stobart. He was a mountaineer as well.
There is a microscope in the upcoming auction collection that all three of us use.
“The framed food packet that I hung on the wall of my home is quite intriguing.
It was built of a lightweight foil to enable carrying and preserving food throughout the seven-week trek easier.
A Tibetan Buddhist monastery on the slopes of Mount Everest presented a painting of the Wheel of Life on canvas to my father in 1953.
The expedition scrapbook of Tom Stobart. Britain was informed of the successful ascent of Everest on June 2
Tickets for the Conquest of Everest screening and an advertisement for Sir John Hunt’s book The Ascent of Everest, which contained a foreword by the Duke of Edinburgh are also included in the collection.
Tom Stobart’s nineteenth-century microscope is also available for purchase at the auction. Tom documented some of the most significant moments in human history.
In a scrapbook, several of Tom’s images from the voyage are shown. His picture has become a cultural icon
A cabinet containing specimen slides of leaf scales, pollen grains, fungal spores, insect antennae, marine biology, and slices of butterfly wings and feathers – some from Australia and Peru – is also for sale.
THE FIRST EVEREST ASCENT
On June 2, 1953, the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, news of the expedition’s successful ascent of Everest reached London.
It was the seventh British climbing expedition to attempt the ascent of the renowned peak, and the first documented success.
The team led by Colonel John Hunt felt further strain because the French and Swiss had been granted permission to mount expeditions in 1954 and 1955, respectively, meaning that they would not have another opportunity to climb Everest until 1956 or later.
On 12 April 1953, the “Icefall party” reached Base Camp at 17,900 feet. As planned, a few days were spent creating a passage through the Khumbu Icefall, after which Sherpa crews transported loads of supplies to Base Camp.
A succession of camps were established progressively higher on the mountain, with parties of climbers leapfrogging each other as they inched toward the summit.
On May 21, Wilfrid Noyce and Sherpa Annullu reached the South Col at an altitude of around 8,000 meters, and five days later, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans began their ascent to the summit.
The pair successfully completed the first ascent of the 28,700-foot South Summit using closed-circuit oxygen, coming within 300 feet of the ultimate summit before being forced to retreat owing to complications with their oxygen equipment.
The following day, the expedition’s second and last attempt on the summit was led by the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
On 29 May 1953, at 11.30 a.m., they reached the summit via the South Col route.
He carried it during the entire voyage.
Tickets and an official program for the premiere of The Conquest of Everest, which Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh attended, are also included.
Dated June 30, 1953, the original letter of invitation to meet members of the Everest Expedition at London Airport is also included in the collection.
There are also numerous black-and-white photographs of Tom and media clippings documenting the Everest expedition and “Yeti Hunt.”
Included in the sale of camera equipment is a Paillard Bolex H-16 Reflex 16mm cine camera, which Tom may have used during the quest for the Abominable Snowman.
The collection also includes a Paillard Bolex speed-control motor and an Adam’s Minex De Luxe Model plate camera.
Scientific Instruments include microscopes and cabinets from the 19th century containing specimen slides of leaf scales, pollen grains, fungal spores, insect antennae, marine biology, and portions of butterfly wings and feathers – some from Australia and Peru.
The proprietor of Hansons Auctioneers, Charles Hanson, remarked, “This is a fantastic collection that reminds us of an important historical event.
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, on May 29, 1953, after years of fantasizing about it.
They were the first individuals to ever reach the peak. Tom photographed the passion of the event.
In reality, he documented some of the most celebrated trips and accomplishments in human history.
‘During the course of his work, he accompanied a team of scientists visiting Antarctica in 1949 and the Tibetan search for the Abominable Snowman in 1954.
It is an honor to auction off this significant historical archive. We hope it will increase museum attendance.
Tom was educated at St Bees School near Whitehaven, Cumbria. Tom was born in Darlington, County Durham, and attended St Bees School near Whitehaven, Cumbria.
He studied zoology at both Sheffield University and Cambridge University.
During the Second World War, he produced Army instructional films in India, went on an expedition to the Himalayas in 1946, and traveled to North Queensland.
In addition, he produced the official video of the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1949-1950.
Edmund Hillary (left), Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (right), and expedition leader Colonel John Hunt (center) at Katmandu, Nepal, following their descent from the summit of Mount Everest.
Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary are observed having tea in May 1953, following their successful ascent of Mount Everest.
It took a team of 15 climbers seven weeks to reach the summit of the 29,030-foot (8,870-meter) Himalayan mountain, which sits 8,870 meters above sea level. Above: British-led team members are spotted with Nepalese Sherpas
After a successful assault on Mount Everest, Hillary and Tensing returned to Camp IV, the advanced base, and celebrated.
During the 1953 Everest expedition, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay pose for a portrait.
The Daily Mail’s coverage of the expedition referred to the successful attempt to climb Mount Everest as the “Crowning Glory.” The news was released on the same day as the coronation of the Queen.
John Hunt recalls that Tom had a seemingly infinite repertory of adventure stories during the 1953 Everest expedition.
Tom was also a skilled cook, as evidenced by his publications Cook’s Encyclopaedia and Herbs, Spices, and Flavourings.
After being wounded twice in the legs during a 1956 filming trip to Ethiopia, he was left severely crippled. He died unexpectedly at age 66 in 1980.