Discovery Point failed in its bid to bring Captain Scott’s compass from his South Pole expeditions to Dundee but has invited its mystery buyer to offer it for display in the city.
The visitor centre made a bid for the precious artefact at Christie’s travel, science and history auction in London on Tuesday but was outbid.
Scott used the device on his Discovery trek in 1901-1904 and on his ill-fated mission on the Terra Nova on 1910-1913.
Discovery Point approached backers for support and pitched an offer, but an anonymous bidder on the telephone topped all comers with a bid of £37,250 almost double the top asking price.
There was understandable disappointment at the centre where the Discovery is berthed and tells the story of Scott’s famous and ultimately doomed exploits to be the first man to the South Pole, but curator Julie Millerick said: ”If in future the individual who bought it is open to lending the piece to Discovery Point, the home of the R.R.S Discovery, we would of course be delighted for them to contact us.”
Discovery Point’s efforts at the auction were not all in vain, however, as the centre succeeded with its bid of £17,500 for the painting Discovery in Winter Quarters, McMurdo Sound, 1902, which depicts the Dundee-built whaler caught in the ice at the expedition’s Winter Quarters.
Ms Millerick said: ”This is a great addition to our collection relating to the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. It is a wonderfully detailed painting.”