A COUPLE of months ago, my wife and I bought a ship's figurehead at an auction near Penzance. The auctioneers (Lodge and Thomas) could not tell us anything about her, other than she had come from the estate of a recently deceased Falmouth man, Peter "John" Adams.

John Adams had been a business man in Falmouth for 40 plus years, owning and trading from a shop at 19 Arwenack Street (also sold after his death). In his later years, he had let the shop to various traders.

The figurehead was found in a room in the empty shop. When I was a boy (now over 50), I remember seeing the figurehead in or outside the shop (my reason for buying her). John Adams lived on the Roseland Peninsula and had a property in Surrey. He died with only a couple of distant relatives in the North of England.

My family and I would love to know if anyone remembers "John" (I think he was a memorable person) and his figurehead. As we don't know her history or name, we have named her Jennifer, my daughter's middle name.

Steve Frost, Castle Meadows, St Agnes