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Nation : German
Local Price : 39,000.00 USD

FINE AND RARE GERMAN HAND AND A HALF SWORD C.1620. This magnificent sword was surely made to order for a wealthy and probably titled owner. It is a hand and a half broadsword made for use in one hand or two, depending on the situation. It is related to a group of swords dating to the early 17th century, mainly decorated with animal head pommels and quillon terminals. The use of human heads is less well known, but several examples exist. A notable example, evidently related to and possible by the same artisan is in the collection of the Historsche Museum, Dresden, #VI/341. Features distinctive to both examples are the form of the ears and the wedge shaped rolled collar. The base of the 32 3/4" double edged blade is decorated with a scrolling tendril from which three flowers bloom, growing from a fruit. The reference is obviously to the cycle of birth and renewal a popular theme offering hope in troubled times.

Nation : German
Local Price : $24995.00

Extremely Rare German Landsknecht Hand-and-a-half Sword, ca. 1520. The Landsknecht mercenaries of the Germanic countries were among the most fearsome warriors in all of history. In a time when there were no standing armies as we know today, any king or magnate who could afford them wanted to hire the Landsknechts. The Katzbalger (literally “cat skinner”) was the well-known short sword with the S-shaped guard of twisted iron. Genuine Katzbalgers are very rare and usually bring well over $10,000 when they come up for sale. However, what is even more scarce is the two-handed or hand-and-a-half varieties with S-shaped guard. A two- handed example sold at auction in Munich about 15 years ago for about $16,000 USD and has since changed hands several times for ever increasing prices. The example offered here is the only hand-and-a-half sword of this type we have ever encountered. It features a very large distinctive S-shaped guard of twisted iron with fluted bun finials. Ovoid pommel with a pair of incised lines at the base, mounted on what is apparently the original leather-wrapped two-stage wood grip. The guard is loose due to shrinkage of the grip and the lack of a ferrule which once was likely mounted at its base. Thick hollow-ground 42″ blade of triangular section with a latten-filled cross mark, designed to pierce the weak spots in an opponent's armor. Metal shows hand forging, light pitting, and a rich dark patina on the guard. Overall length 54″. Such a sword would have been carried by a veritable giant for the time. This type sword is often considered the Holy Grail for collectors of weapons of the age of the armored knight.

Nation : British
Local Price : £24995

Click and use the code 23227 to search for this item on the dealer website Singularly Fine Museum Quality Original Viking Broadsword

Nation : British
Local Price : £24,995.00

Very Fine and rare Cased Set of Flintlock Duelling Pistols by Twigg with a Pair of Companion Pocket Pistols. SN 8583. A Very Fine and rare Cased Set of Flintlock Duelling Pistols by Twigg with a Pair of Companion Pocket Pistols. Duellers 15 1/2&157; overall, 10&157; slightly swamped, twist octagonal sighted 25 bore barrels each signed along the top flat ´Twigg London´ and engraved with a line of beadwork behind the back-sight, border engraved tangs each decorated with foliage, border engraved flat bevelled locks each with second form of signature and stepped tail. Figured full stocks each carved in relief with a shell behind the barrel tang, chequered rounded flat-sided butts with a dot in the centre of each diamond and carved with characteristic step behind the lock and side-flat on each side, steel trigger guards each with acorn finial and decorated with a flowerhead on the border engraved bow, turned ramrod-pipes, horn-tipped ramrods, one with iron worm. Pocket pistols 6 1/2&157; overall with 1 1/2&157; turn-off rifled 120 bore cannon barrels, actions engraved with a trophy on each side and inscribed ’London’ on a scroll, blued sliding trigger guard safety catches which lock down the frizzens each decorated with foliage on the bow, figured flat-sided butts inlaid with silver wire scrollwork. In their original lined and fitted mahogany case with some accessories including a leather covered three-way powder-flask stained in imitation of tortoiseshell, matching bullet moulds in 25 and 120 bore, turn screw and loading rod. The exterior of the lid with brass carrying handle of Chippendale form Circa 1775-80 Duellers in very good, re-finished condition, crisp actions. Pocket pistols in good condition with minor losses to silver wire. Accessories all original to set. Original case with split to front edge of lid, hooks old replacements. Provenance: W. Keith Neal Collection, C26 Christie’s London, Fine Antique Firearms from the W. Keith Neal Collection, 8 November 1995, lot 317 John Fox Twigg was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1732. He is recorded at various addresses in London between 1755 and the year of his death in 1790. Durs Egg worked for him on his arrival in London in 1772 and John Manton served as his foreman. He is considered to be one of founding fathers of the English gun making trade Images courtesy of West Street Antiques (https://antiquearmsandarmour.com/)

Nation : British
Local Price : £19500

Pair of Scottish Lobe Butt Pistols by Thomas Murdoch of Doune Dating to the Third Quarter of the 18th century. https://www.rct.uk/collection/405954/st-jamess-park-and-the-mall-0 Both lobe and scroll butt styles were produced at the same time in the mid-18th century by the Doune gun makers. The only difference between the two forms being the shape of the butt terminal. The typical Doune decorative style applied to these all-steel pistols relates to the barrel decoration, the scrolls on the lock plates behind the cocks, and on the fore ends and undersides of the pistols. The scrolling and leafy features indicate a Celtic root to this style of decoration. The pistols illustrated here are finished in this manner. Both cocks, and the areas behind them on the lock plates, are engraved with scrolling foliage. The spines of the butts are engraved with parallel sets of lines infilled with chains of chevrons and waves. The fore ends are engraved with scrolls, acanthus leaves, linear designs and chevrons on four planes. The button triggers are formed from cups of silver brazed together and engraved with four petals which radiate from the tang ends. Underneath the locks the space is decorated with fine linear engraving of scrolls, parallel lines and waves, crossed by three silver bands engraved with chevrons. The base of each butt is centred with a silver button, surrounded by two engraved bands and four inlaid silver triangles, the points radiating outwards, interspersed with four silver circular centre-punched studs within panels of scrolls. The belt hooks are attached to each stock with a double roundel pierced and decorated with designs similar to those found on the guard panels of traditionally made Scottish basket hilted swords. The slender elongated hooks widen towards the flattened ends and curl slightly outwards, the shafts delicately filed with spiral rope-work twists. The locks are of typical “Highland” form with a horizontal sear extending through each lock plate which holds the cock in the half cock position, and a vertical sear is present which extends from the top of each trigger plate and protrudes through a small oblong aperture in the centre of the upper surface of each butt behind the barrel tang. The lock plates are each signed “T” with “MURDOCH” beneath, with a downward pointing scroll extension to the right hand leg of the letter “R” which extends to the front then upwards to curl around the letter “T”, in typical form for the signature of this maker. The four stage barrels have fluted sections near each base and flared muzzles with octagonal sides engraved with fine scrolls. The middle sections of the barrels are rounded and boldly engraved with foliage. The overall length of each pistol extremity to extremity is just under 12 inches (30.0 cm). The barrel lengths are 7.25 inches (just over 18.5 cm). Thomas Murdoch’s baptism is recorded as of 9th May 1735, son of John Murdoch and Margaret McMien in Tenemon. His marriage is recorded 18th December 1766 to Ann Buchanan in the Parish of Port of Menteith. Both events are detailed in the Kilmadock Parish Register (an administrative area which recorded births, deaths and marriages in the Doune region of Perthshire – Kilmadock burial ground where many of the Doune gun makers are interred is a short distance from Doune). In 1774 Thomas Murdoch is recorded as “Gunsmith in Leith”. Presumably he moved his business to this Edinburgh port area sometime between 1766 and 1774, as demand for high quality and expensive Doune pistols started to shrink along the Highland Line due to the disarming measures taken by the Hanoverian government after the failure of the ’45 Rebellion. During this period pistol production in Doune all but ceased. The later pistols made by Thomas Murdoch which by style or signature (sometimes incorporating the place of work as “Leith”) are less elaborate, less well finished and most certainly less expensive to produce and sell compared to his better, earlier, Doune pistols. A development most likely due to increasing competition to supply the marine market with lower quality, cheaper, plainer pistols, coming on to the market at that time from both Britain and abroad. The high quality of the pistols illustrated here is a clear indicator that they were made in Doune in the early part of Thomas Murdoch’s career. Despite these developments, there was still the occasional opportunity for a quality commission in the later 18th century. According to the Scottish Statistical Account a pair of pistols made by T. Murdoch “a tradesman taught in Doune” were presented by the City of Glasgow to the Marquis de Bouille in 1784 (see “Scottish Arms Makers, Charles E Whitelaw page 43). Thomas is recorded as active in Leith in 1774, 1780, 1782 and finally in 1790. It seems he was succeeded in the family business by his son William first recorded in 1793.

Nation : British
Local Price : £18995

Click and use the code 22605 to search for this item on the dealer website 18th Century Silver and Enamel Makara ´Lucknow´ Palace Damascus Sword

Nation : German
Local Price : £17500

Fine North European Two Handed Sword Dating To Circa 1520. A fine, rare and well proportioned North European two handed sword (hand and a half sword). The hilt, which retains much of its original blackening to the iron parts, is an impressively chiselled example of the early 16th century armourer’s craft. The flat, downwardly curved quillons, widening towards square-ended terminals, with central rope-twist decoration in raised relief on both sides, plus the deeply grooved pommel with fluted ridges, mark this sword out as a member of a distinct and unique group of North European two-handed swords. So far as we know, only six of this type are presently identified. The broad blade is single edged with a thick spine beneath which two fullers each side extend from the hilt for 40% of its length, after which the blade is double edged and of lenticular section. Three crescent-shaped notches are applied at the end of the spine. An armourers mark of facing crescents terminating in ovals, with a further oval imbetween, flanked by trefoils of diamond shaped dots is present on one side a short distance from the hilt. The marks are most likely of a Passau smith. The hub of the cross is formed as a thick bar of rectangular section. The distinctive quillons are rounded nearest the block and expand in vertically flattened form towards their terminals and are decorated with raised diagonally grooved rope-like lines along the middles which are flanked by further incised lines. Two horizontal ring guard bars of thick round section are applied to the sides, each formed with two raised knops with similar “roped” finish. Beneath the cross, a downward facing round section bar of open crescent shape is applied. Two further crescents, also decorated with knops, are forged onto the terminals of this bar and rise at 45 degrees to attach to, and strengthen, the side rings. The pommel is of upturned pear shape and formed with eight equally spaced deep grooves which radiate from the pommel top to its base. The surfaces of the ridges imbetween are cut with narrow lines alternating in vertical, and diagonally vertical form, similar in depth and spacing as the lines which form the rope designs on the guard. The guard and the pommel retain much of the original blackened finish. The waisted stepped grip is of wood covered with leather over a cord wrap. The blade length is 41.5 inches (105.5 cm) and overall is 52 inches (132 cm) long. These large swords were not just for two-handed use. They were designed to be used equally well with one hand by a trained user. In the 16th century such swords were quite common on European battlefields, carried by armies fighting wars almost permanently during a time of shifting religious and political change. As fashions moved towards the beginning of the 17th century they went out of use and today are rare compared to the survival rates of two-handed swords of the “bearing sword” variety – large, well made, imposing and decorous, but designed mainly to be carried point up in civic procession rather than for use in combat. One fine example, almost identical to ours, is illustrated in “Records of the Medieval Sword”, Ewart Oakeshott, St Edmundsbury Press, 1991, page 241, which sold through Peter Dale Ltd of London before 1982. The same example is illustrated in “The Price Guide to Antique Edged Weapons”, Leslie Southwick, Antique Collectors Club, 1982, page 29, fig 49). Oakeshott comments that another sword in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (Inventory Number M.602-1927) and illustrated in “European Swords”, Anthony North, page 6 fig 3, has an identical hilt apart from the guard having one branch. A third example is illustrated in “Edged Weapons in Sweden”, Staffan Kinman, Stockholm, 2014, page 29, fig 26b, and is similar to the British Museum example. Oakeshott comments on another in Zurich (Schweizerisches Landesmuseum Inventory Number LM 16933). A fifth sword with similar characteristics is also illustrated in Southwick (as above) fig 48, its location unknown.

Nation : ?
Local Price : £17500.00

Cased Pair of Flintlock Duelling Pistols. A Cased Pair of Flintlock Pistols by Harrison & Thomson. With round sighted barrels, stamped Thomson & Co. London, decorated with bands of engraved bands of platinum, gold touch holes, with profusely engraved tangs cut with sighting grooves, stepped engraved locks, signed on silver ovals, decorated with scrolling foliage throughout, cocks decorated en suite, full-stocked in walnut, with engraved steel mounts decorated with foliage on the bow and pineapple finials, turned ramrod pipes, with loading rods. In original fitted and lined case, complete with unusual red leather covered flask and bullet mould. Harrison & Thomson Penelope Harrison & James Thompson (widow & son-in-law of John Harrison). Gunmakers, 18 Swan St., Minories, 1779-1803. Contractors to Ordnance and East India Co. Succeeded by James Thompson. John Harrison Gunmaker, Swan St., Minories, c.1770-d. 1779. Contractor to Ordnance, 1777-8; East India Co., 1774-9. Contractors continued by widow, Penelope. Howard L. Blackmore (1986) Gunmakers Of London, 1350-1850. George Shumway Publisher. USA. Dimensions: Bore: Barrel Length: Overall Length: