Certificate of authenticity for bone china plate printed with a full-colour illustration depicting McClure’s ship 'Investigator' beset off Baring Island. On the front of the certificate is: 'Spode/ The Great Explorers Collection/ Franklin's lost Expedition. This plate is part of a series that has been produced by Spode in association with The Royal Geographic Society to commemorate famous and brave travellers who explored unknown and remote areas of the world. This edition is strictly limited to 2000 only. Dr. John Hemming, Director and Secretary of The Royal Geographic Society.' On the reverse of the certificate is: 'Franklin's lost Expedition. In March 1845, Sir John Franklin set out in the Erebus and Terror to find the North West Passage to the Pacific. He was 60 years old. / Nothing more was heard from Franklin and in early 1848 the first of a series of over 40 rescue expeditions sailed. One of these was led by HMS Investigator, seen here in 1851. In 1859, a grim story emerged: Franklin's ships had been crushed by ice in 1846, just 12 miles from the open sea. Franklin and all his men had died, but they had discovered the North West Passage.'