2-888-500 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Large Log of Honduras Mahogany, sold at Birkenhead, 1850. Sale by Messrs. Holmes, Slater, and Crook, brokers. 'There was a company of about 160 at the sale, which commenced with American woods, a great quantity being disposed of. The sale of the Honduras mahogany, which consisted of about 650 logs, was very spirited, and brought good prices. For the monster log there was great competition; and eventually it sold at Is. 1½d. per foot, the purchase-money amounting to £316 17s. 6d...The tree that this log was manufactured from grew in the Mosquito territory of Honduras. The length of the trunk, clear of branch, was 72 feet; its circumference, where it was cut (twelve feet above the ground), was 30 feet; and the entire tree turned out 17,000 feet of sound wood: say, three logs 20 feet long each from the trunk, and some very large logs from the branches'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.