Chinese export presentation tankard c.1940, pewter, inscribed "GWEN Peiping, China, 1946" weight 525gm. Presented to famed legendary reporter, photographer & Japanese POW interned in Hong Kong, Gwen Dew.

Michigan native, Gwen Dew, was a trailblazing explorer and foreign correspondent from the 1930’s. Shattering gender barriers, her fearlessness led her from being one of the earliest female pilots in the US, to distinctive frontline reporting on global events, notably China's pivotal role in WWII. Relentless, Dew secured a rare interview with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, and narrowly avoided boarding the ill-fated Hindenburg. An accomplished photographer, she filmed the battles and surrender of Hong Kong to Japan in 1941. Captured and subsequently imprisoned as a Japanese POW, Dew documented the Hong Kong occupation through her writings which were smuggled out concealed inside Ming dolls. Her experiences shaped a unique understanding of conflict's human cost, capturing China's resilience and chronicling war's effects on women and civilians.