The Great Auk was a flightless, aquatic bird measuring approximately 2½ feet tall and weighing on average 11 pounds. With a black body and white underbelly, its appearance fell somewhere between a puffin and a penguin. When hunting, the Great Auk employed a hooked beak and powerful swimming stroke to stalk fish and crustaceans. Native to the cold waters of the North Atlantic, their nesting areas ranged from the coasts of Newfoundland, Maine, Massachusetts, and even South Carolina and Florida, to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the eastern coast of Greenland, and the islands off the coast of Scotland, namely the Orkneys and St Kilda; during the winter months they were known to go as far west as Norway and Denmark, and skeletal remains have been found as far south as Gibraltar.

Great Auk pairs mated for life, laying but one egg per breeding season on small islands and rocky coastlines. The longitudinal, pear-shaped eggs were perfectly adapted to roll in tight circles, greatly reducing the chance of being lost off a cliff edge. Parents would take turns incubating the egg, all while benefitting from the protection of dense social colonies and few natural predators.

Historical records indicate that the Great Auk showed no innate fear of humans, and this—coupled with their slow and awkward movements on land—greatly increased their vulnerability to extinction as Europeans began to massively exploit the species for food, for their downy feathers, and horrifyingly, for kindling in fires, as their very oily feathers were highly flammable.

The last bird to be seen in the British Isles was captured by a group of fisherman who took it back with them to their ship. When a great storm threatened to capsize the vessel four days after taking the bird on board, the superstitious fisherman decided that the poor bird was “a maelstrom-conjuring witch,” and stoned it to death. Four years later, on June 3, 1844, the last known breeding pair of Great Auks were killed off the coast of Iceland, on Eldey Island, after being captured yet again by fisherman. The lone egg being incubated by the pair was crushed under one of the fisherman's boots, wiping out the species for good, and forever filing this once-prolific species amongst the ranks of its extinct avian peers including the Dodo, the Elephant Bird (see preceding lot 15), and the Passenger Pigeon.

This incredibly rare specimen is a poignant reminder of humanity's responsibility to conservation and environmental stewardship.

Because of their tragic history, Great Auk eggs are exceedingly rare, and even more so in private hands. Thanks to the efforts of early passionate ornithologists, in particular Symington Grieve, Edward Bidwell, Paule Marie Louise & John Whitaker Tomkinson, Ch. F. Dubois, and Leon Olpho-Galliard, surviving specimens of skins and eggs, including the present example, are well-documented in the literature.

The present specimen was first documented and described in 1862, in a letter penned by Olpho-Galliard on April 15th to the editor of the ornithological journal Ibis, and subsequently published therein: [Trans. from the French, in part]: "It is not without regret that we now envisage the very probable extinction of the Alca impennis. It is interesting to research how these eggs have changed hands, and to note the museums and private collections in which a few examples of their skins or their eggs may be found... I recently received from Mister Demeezemaker [alternately spelled Méesemaecker], an ornithologist in Bergues [and the 4th owner of the present specimen], two photographs of two Alca impennis eggs in his collection. One measures 12.5 centimeters, with a diameter of 8 centimeters [the present specimen]. The second is only 11.5 centimeters, and 8 cm in diameter."

It makes its second appearance in the literature when Ch. F. Dubois, published his "Note sur le Plautus Impennis, Brünnich," in the Archives Cosmologiques. Revue des Sciences Naturelles, in which he gives a description of the egg, and includes drawings he made after the photographs sent to him by M. de Meezemaker, noting that [Trans, from the French, in part:] "I am very happy to be able to give you a drawing of two eggs of this species, thanks to M. de Meezemaker the elder, of Bergues-lez-Dunkerque. This ardent ornithologist was kind enough to send me photographs of the two eggs in his possession..."

In 1885, it appears yet again, in Grieve's excellent work The Great Auk, Or Garefowl, which included as an appendix a listing of all known specimens in both institutional and private hands, classified according to location. The present specimen is recorded under the entry for eggs 6 & 7, noting: "Bergues-les-Dunkerque, France. —These two formerly belonged to M. Demeezemaker, and are now since his death most probably in the possession of his son. They were first mentioned and described by Olphe-Galliard (Ibis, 1862, p. 302) and afterwards discussed and given in pictorial representations by Ch. F. Dubois ... One of them [the present example] is larger than the other... and has on a reddish-yellow ground a great number of broad , irregular, dark-brownish black bands, curves, and streaks, distributed in pretty equal proportion over the whole surface."

In a letter written in to Robert Champley (Vice President of the Museum of Scarborough) in 1896, Mr Demeezemaker the younger gives the full history of the present specimen: [Trans. from the French, in part:] "..., here is... the information I can give you on the subject of the two Alca impennis eggs that I own. These eggs were brought back from Island about 70-80 years ago but the captain of a fishing boat, at the time when these birds could still be found on the island. They were given as a gift to the owner of the vessel... who in turn, gifted my late father with two examples.... This is how the eggs in question came to be part of the very extensive collection that my father and I had assembled. I have had a great many inquiries about them since the death of my father, particularly after the newspapers wrote about a single egg selling in London for the sum of 4,000 £, the English in particular have tried to tempt us to sell... A Mr [Edward] Bidwell came right away from London, accompanied his camera, to take a proof of it, which would serve to complete his work which he intended to publish, in which he was planning to include photographs of all known eggs of the Alca impennis in the entire world."

The story of Edward Bidwell is well told by Errol Fuller in The Great Auk, considered to be the best work on the subject. Bidwell, "an East Anglian gentleman of some means, formed a determination to list the whereabouts of every surviving Great Auk egg and then to photograph each of them. Although he didn't quite succeed in his self-appointed task, it is due to his dogged determination that a virtually complete photographic record can be provided today …. He was able to include 71 Great Auk eggs on the final version of his list and of these he managed to photograph 69 [of which the present specimen in no. 57]. He seems to have supplied copies of these photographs, carefully mounted on pieces of card, to specimen owners in exchange for access to their eggs. Whether partial or complete sets were also offered for sale is not known. A number of very incomplete collections exist but full sets seem to be very rare."

It is interesting to note that an original set of the photographs taken of the Auk Eggs by Bidwell, accompanied by his typed list of all known specimens was sold in these rooms in 2005.

The present specimen appears again in P.M.L. & J.W. Tomkinson's 1966 work, Eggs of the Great Auk, listed and illustrated as Egg. No. 57, noting: "Location: Private possession of Mon. Heim de Balzac of 34 Rue Hamelin, Paris. History: ... Mon. de Meezemaker sold it to Mon. Heim de Balsac in 1924 for 8,000 francs." It was acquired from M de Balzac by the present owner in 1986.

The egg makes a final appearance in Errol Fuller's above-mentioned The Great Auk, where it appears in Fuller's listing as his number 74, and is referred to as "Méezemaker's Egg." Bidwell's original photograph of the egg are reproduced in the work, as well as Ch. F. Dubois' drawings done after the Bidwell photograph.

PROVENANCE:

Captain of a fishing vessel, collected from the coast of Iceland, ca 1816;

Gifted to the owner of the above fishing vessel, of Bergues-les-Dunkerques, France, by the above, ca 1816-1817;

Gifted to Mr Méezemaker the elder, of Bergues-les-Dunkerques, by the above, ca 1817;

Mr Méezemaker the younger, of Bergues-les-Dunkerques, inherited from the above prior to 1896;

Professeur Henri Heim de Balzac [sic], of 34 Rue Hamelin, Paris, acquired from the heirs of the above in 1924 for 8,000 francs;

Private French collection, acquired from the heirs of the above in 1986 for 50,000 francs

REFERENCES:

-Bidwell, Edward, "List Showing Present Owners of Eggs of the Great Auk", egg no. 57, published and illustrated in: Fuller, Errol. The Great Auk. (see below for full citation) p 420, as well as In: Tomkinson, Eggs of Great Auk (see below for full citation), as "Appendix 'B'. Bidwell List of Owners of Great Auk Eggs 1892 and additions to 1900," p. 124

-Dubois, Ch. F. "Note sur le Plautus Impennis, Brünnich," pp. 33-35, plate 3, top. In: Archives Cosmologiques. Revue des Sciences Naturelles... Brussels: 1868

-Fuller, Errol. The Great Auk. Southborough, Kent: For the author, 1999, egg no. 74, pp. 335-36, and 430.

-Grieve, Symington. The Great Auk, or Garefowl. Its History, Archaeology, and Remains. Edinburgh: Thomas C. Jack, 1885, egg no. 6/7, p. 25

-Olpho-Galliard, Léon. "XXXIII, Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, &c." In: The Ibis, a Magazine of General Ornithology. Edited by Philip Lutley Sclater. Vol. IV, 1862, pp 300-03

-Tomkinson, J. W. & P.M.L, "Eggs of the Great Auk," egg no. 57, p. 117 & plate 57. In: Bulletin of the British Museum 'Natural History', Historical Series. Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 95-128. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1966

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:

-Duchaussoy, H. "Le Grand Pinguoin du Musée d'Histoire naturelle d'Amiens" In: Mémoire de la Société Linnéenne du Nord de la France. Amiens, 1897-8, pp. 103-6, and fig. p. 105

-Newton, Alfred. A Dictionary of Birds. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1896

-Newton, Alfred. "Recent Ornithological Publications", In: The Ibis, a Magazine of General Ornithology. Edited by Philip Lutley Sclater, 1868, p. 112

-Parkin, Thomas. The Great Auk. A record of sales of birds and eggs by public auction in Great Britain, 1806-1910: with historical and descriptive notes. Hastings: Burfield & Pennels, Ltd., 1911

-Sharpe, R. Bowdler. A Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain. London: Edward Lloyd, 1896-97

-Saunders, Howard. An Illustrated Manual of British Birds. London: Gurney and Jackson, 1889

-Seebohm, Henry. Coloured Figures of the Eggs of British Birds: with Descriptive Notices. Sheffield: Pawson and Brailsford, 1896

-Seebohm, Henry. A History of British Birds, with coloured illustrations of their eggs. London: Published for the author by R.H. Porter et al., 1883-85

-Steenstrup, J.J.S. "Et Bidrag til Geirfuglens Natuhistorie og saerligt til Kunskaben om dens tidligere Udbredningskreds." In: Naturh. Foren. Vidensk. Meddeleser Copenhague, 1855, p. 33

-Witherby, H.F. et al. The Handbook of British Birds. London: HF & G Witherby, 1938

-Yarrell, William. A History of British Birds. London: John Van Voorst, 1843

-Galasso, Samantha. "When the Last of the Great Auks Died, it was but the Crush of a Fisherman's Boot." SmithsonianMag.com, 10 July, 2014

-Giaimo, Cara. "Why the Great Auk is Gone for Good." The New York Times, 4 December, 2019