Full-length and small-scale carved and painted naive wooden figure depicting Nelson, bare-headed, facing forward and looking upward. His weight is on his left leg, in front of the right, giving the impression of forward movement. His left arm is straight down by his side resting on a wooden support post to his left - possibly an upended gun - with a rope coiled twice round it.

He is shown in full-dress flag-officer's uniform with incorrect white lapels, the red ribbon of the Order of the Bath (wrongly gold-edged) diagionally across the body over the right shoulder, a star intended as that of the Bath on the left breast and half-hidden under the uniform lapel, and the empty right sleeve of his uniform coat pinned across the front. Two medals round his neck are intended as Naval gold medals but the detail is fanciful. The sword is now detached but kept with it.

This item is part of the Sutcliffe-Smith Collection, acquired by the Museum in July 1974 after having been on loan since 1946. Its original purpose and provenance are unknown but, not least given its size (30 inches high), the most obvious possibility is that it may have been a trade sign for an inn or a shop with nautical connections to which Nelson's image was considered appropriate. It might, for example, have been a naval outfitter's though fairly obviously not a nautical instrument seller's (which had more junior naval officers with both arms, usually using a sextant or octant: see, for example, AAB0173).