A George III silver salver engraved with the coat-of-arms of Captain James Cook, RN, FRS incorporating a terrestrial globe centred on the Pacific Ocean between two pole stars on a shield, the crest of an arm embowed in naval uniform holding the Union flag with the motto 'CIRCA ORBEM', the motto 'NIL INTENTATEM RELIQUIT' below

Captain Cook's Armorial Bearings were granted in 1785, on the application of Elizabeth Cook, Cook's widow, to be borne by his descendants and to be 'placed on a Monument or otherwise to his memory'. For the scroll of the grant of arms, depicting the arms and crests in watercolour, see Beddie 1780.

The salver, dating to 1764, may have been in the Cook household during Captain Cook's lifetime and prior to the engraving. It was amongst the effects of Mrs Cook left to her sole residuary beneficiary (and legatee), John Leach Bennett of Merton, the husband of her second cousin Ursula Cragg (née Smith). The engraving of Cook's Armorial Bearings on the salver was presumably ordered by Mrs Cook following the grant of arms in 1785. The engraving has been dated to c.1785-90 on stylistic grounds.

The coat-of-arms was also used on Cook's bookplate, presumably made up for Elizabeth Cook, printed from an engraved copper plate (which also descended from Elizabeth Cook to John Leach Bennett). The bookplate was pasted into Captain Cook's Bible, which also descended to Bennett, (Mitchell Library, SLNSW, MLMSS 7700, Beddie 3632), and is found in a copy of Thomas Hobbes' Philosophical rudiments concerning government and society, London, 1651 (Beddie 2691). A portion of the coat-of-arms was incorporated into an abridged 1785 edition of Cook's Third Voyage, London, 1785 (Beddie 2682).