[John Mortimer Hunt, partner in Bond Street silversmiths Hunt & Roskell.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Mortimer Hunt'), regarding a 'stone implement' brought by 'Mr Roskell' from Australia, the Society of Antiquaries, and the recipient's health.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. For information regarding this renowned firm of silversmiths, which possessed the royal warrant and mounted a sumptuous display at the Great Exhibition, see Norman Mosley Penzer, 'Paul Storr, 1771-1844, Silversmith and Goldsmith' (1954), and John Culme, 'Directory of Gold and Silversmiths' (2000). The nature of the '”Australian” implement' which is the subject of the letter is unclear, but information on Hunt's partner's connection with Australia is to be found in L. W. Dimmick, 'London to Lismore: The Roskell Family in Australia' (2006). The letter begins: 'My dear Sir, | I asked Mr. Roskell some time ago about the stone implement which he brought from Australia. He asked me to describe it to you generally as having been found in the colony. As he told me that he had found it himself I asked for the exact place but he appeared disinclined to tell me, therefore please to treat it as an “Australian” implement.' Hunt will endeavour to obtain some of the items for the recipient's 'loan to the Soc of Antiquaries', and he has asked 'a cousin of mine', who has 'some from the northeast of Ireland', to lend them as well. Employing an appropriate metaphor, he expessess regret that 'your cloud has not yet shown its silver lining'. He also notes the recipient's 'anxiety'. He has himself 'seen nothing good lately and the earth seems to produce nothing but wars and Communions: the latter, I am almost glad to say, consigned to it again'. He 'took the liberty of using a small piece of Danish gold you kindly lent me once as a text for a sermon which you will find in a small contribution of our's to the Exhibition'. He ends in the hope that the recipient 'will soon meet with a happy solution of all your difficulties'.