The wooden blade was reputedly cut from the elm tree beside which Wellington directed operations during the battle of Waterloo, near the crossroads of the Brussels and Ohain roads. According to contemporary accounts, after the battle the elm tree was cut into pieces for keepsakes. Later, John George Children Esq. of the British Museum collected the remnants of the dying tree and commissioned a number of pieces of furniture to be made with the timber. An article published in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1836 records the manufacture of two chairs made from the Waterloo tree, one given to Queen Victoria and another to Wellington himself.
For a note on the battle of Waterloo see lot 50.