A FINELY CONSTRUCTED CONTEMPORARY, POSSIBLY DOCKYARD ENGINEER'S, MODEL FOR A FRENCH IRONCLAD WARSHIP, THOUGHT TO REPRESENT THE 'COLBERT' CLASS CENTRAL BATTERY SHIP TRIDENT OF 1870
the correctly framed wooden hull finely plated and pinned overall in copper, nickel-plated above the waterline, with main and secondary armoured belt, ram bow, gun ports, twin barbette gun turrets, counter stern with folding brass propeller on shaft -- 7 x 44in. (18 x 111.7cm.); later display stand

Trident was one of the last French wooden hulled sea-going battleships. Built at the Toulon Arsenal and launched 9th November, 1876, she was 317 ft 9in. long with a 57ft 3in. beam, displaced 8750 tons and had a complement of 774 officers and crew. Her three fully-rigged masts gave her 23,000 square feet of sail coverage, however auxiliary power was provided by eight oval boilers generating 4,600hp to a single shaft producing an impressive 14 knots when in calm seas. Her armoured belt extended 5ft. 10in. above and below the waterline. Her battery originally comprised eight 10.8in., one 9.4in., eight 5.5in. and fourteen 1pdr guns together with four 14in. torpedo tubes, and two unarmoured barbettes. British reports claimed she had steam steering, which was thought very handy. Trident was hulked in 1904. The origins of this model are at present uncertain - undoubedly of some age and very high quality, some official purpose seems likely. Possibly this is connected to the unusual design of folding propeller, which may have been a demonstration model to show how drag could be reduced when under sail; whether the idea was ever employed is uncertain at the time of writing.