For those looking for a nice diploma to hang on the wall, item 55 is a Degree of Honor for high proficiency in the Persian Arabic and Hindoostanee languages. It was issued by Fort William College in Calcutta in 1809. Fort William was a major training center for the East India Company in Indian languages. The recipient was George Sotheby, son of William Sotheby, a British poet perhaps better known for translating ancient Greek works, and as being a friend of the major British writers of the day, Scott, Byron, Wordsworth and Coleridge. However, George never got a chance to make as much of a name for himself, as eight years after receiving this certificate, he was killed in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, wherein Britain and the East India Company gained control of almost all of India. £475 (US $963).

Item 69 is a naval passport for the British ship George of Ramsgate, dated 1760. It permitted the ship "bound for Maryland to pass with her company, passengers, goods, & merchandise, without any let, hindrance, seizure or molestation..." It is signed by George Anson as First Lord of the Admiralty. Two decades earlier, Anson led six ships on a disastrous privateering mission to South America to disrupt Spanish trade. He lost five of his ships and most of his men, but returned home a hero after capturing a ship loaded with Spanish coins on his way back across the Pacific. It was only the second circumnavigation (after Drake) by an Englishman. £850 (US $1,724).

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