Nelson's box has £80,000 price tag

From the archive, first published Thursday 4th Aug 2005.

A silver gilt box presented by the City of Oxford to Britain's greatest naval hero, Lord Nelson, is expected to fetch up to £80,000 when it is auctioned at Sotheby's in London on October 5.

During a triumphant tour of Wales and the Midlands in 1802 -- just three years before the Battle of Trafalgar -- Nelson was given the freedom of the City of Oxford.

At the elaborate ceremony in the Town Hall on July 22, Nelson was presented with the box.

None of the Oxford museums have announced any plans to bid for the artefact, which measures 9cm.

During his visit to Oxford to collect his honours, Nelson is reported to have had dinner the previous evening at the Star Inn.

Laurence Brockliss, professor of Early Modern French History at Oxford University, said: "Nelson passed through Oxford with Lady and Sir William Hamilton and was mobbed in the street."