Nelson letters expected to fetch £10,000

A batch of long-lost letters which give a unique insight into the career and life of Lord Nelson are expected to fetch more than £10,000 when they go up for auction next week.

Found in a wardrobe in an Edinburgh flat last year, the historic correspondence about and from Lord Nelson will be sold with a commemorative box made from the mast of the Napoleonic flagship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. The circular box has a silver band and an engraved silver disc in the centre inscribed: "This box is part of the mast of L'Orient, blown up at the Nile, from which Nelson's coffin was made. Died 21st October, 1805." It is expected to fetch £4,000.

The documents include a letter from Nelson, an autographed note and his official appointment as a Vice-Admiral of the Blue dated 10 months before his death at Trafalgar. The auction is at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh.