A silver tray that once belonged to Captain James Cook has been sold to the National Library in Canberra for $A120,000.
It is covered in small scratches, which suggests it was regularly used in the Cook household to serve tea and drinks, the ABC website reports.
The library's curator of maps, Martin Woods, says the insignia shows a globe centred on the Pacific Ocean and bears the motto, "he left nothing unattempted".
"In his day he was a popular celebrity ... and it marked the beginning of the growth of the British empire, so it was an extraordinarily well-known coat of arms," he said.
Mr Woods says Cook's wife Elizabeth probably had the coat of arms engraved after her husband's death.
Captain Cook was the first known European after Abel Tasman to reach New Zealand and the first person to circumnavigate the country, beginning in 1769.
He led three expeditions to the Pacific region.
