A starboard view of the ship, 32.5mm (cf Forget-Me-Not 127, for a piece engraved by the same hand).
 
Very fine, brooch-mounted with pin on reverse.
 
Note            HMS Superb was designed by Sir Edward Reed for the Turkish Navy, and was built in Britain by Thames Ironworks under the name of Hamidieh, however she was compulsorily purchased by the British Government at the time of the Russian war scare of 1878. She carried sixteen ten-inch muzzle-loaders - the highest number of heavy guns of uniform calibre ever carried on a British battleship. Although Superb was intended to be able to proceed under sail, and was barque-rigged to this end, it was found that she was unmanageable without power.  She had a sister-ship, the Messudiah, never part of the Royal Navy.
 
Commissioned at Chatham for service in the Mediterranean on 4 October 1880, and remained on station for seven years. She took part in the bombardment of Alexandria, where she fired 310 10-inch calibre shells at the Egyptian forts; she received ten hits in return, seven of them on her armour, with no casualties. After reconstruction at Chatham from 1887 to 1891 she was guardship on the Clyde until 1894, when she paid off into Fleet Reserve. Her only other sea time was at the time of the manoeuvres of 1900. In 1904 she was used as a hospital overflow ship for infectious cases, until she was sold in 1906.  The engraving worthy of the painter Alfred Wallis, though a little before his time.  See also the Eddystone Lighthouse brooch.