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Nation : British
Local Price : £4750

Scottish Basket Hilted Sword dating to circa 1730-1740. A fine Scottish basket hilted sword dating to the second quarter of the 18th century. The sword is a nicely contoured example of this distinctive sword type. The hilt is forged from thick structural rounded bars and plates. The single edged blade is a finely forged example with a double fuller most likely of Solingen manufacture The basket guard is finely forged into its elegant profile. The two main frontal guard panels are decorated in traditional style, with vertical and horizontal border lines incised into the exterior surfaces towards the panel edges to form squares. Inside these squares a circle is pierced into the centre. The panels are then further decorated with four flanged heart shapes which surround the centre circles. Further circles are pierced into each corner of the squares. The smaller, secondary guard plates to the sides, and the knucklebow plate to the front, are finished in similar style. The cone-shaped pommel has a waisted button on top and is decorated with four pairs of incised double lines, equally spaced apart, which radiate from the button. The upper guard arm terminals of the basket fit into a chiselled groove which extends for the full circumference of the pommel just below its middle to secure the structure. The blade shoulders are secured in a chiselled groove in the cross guard bar underneath the hilt which retains its scrolled wrist guard. The spirally grooved wooden baluster shaped grip is covered with shagreen and bound with wire. The hilt also has a full leather liner covered with red cloth on the outside and stitched with a blue silken hem. The tapering single edged blade is of fine quality. It has a ricasso which extends 1.5 inches (4.0 cm) from the hilt. A short bold fuller extends for the length of the ricasso just inside the blunt edge of the cutting side of the blade. A further bold fuller runs underneath the spine from the hilt and terminates 25.5 inches (65 cm) along after which the blade is double edged to the the tip. A second fuller commences a short distance from the hilt runs underneath the first. The blade is just under 32 inches (81.25 cm) long. For similar styles of hilt see “Poetry in Steel The Earliest Swords of Walter Allan of Stirling”, by the Baron of Earlshall, London Park Lane Arms Fair, page 129 to 138, Spring 2018, Apollo Publishing. There are strong resemblances between this hilt and those produced in Stirling by both John and Walter Allan during this period, particularly that shown on page 137, figs 11 and 12, which is a robust hilt of similar profile lacking fretted edges to the guard panels. See also Cyril Mazansky, “British Basket-Hilted Swords”, The Boydell Press, 2005, page 106, fig F12, for a sword in a private American collection and pages 115, fig F15h, and page 116, fig F16, for swords in the Marischal College in Aberdeen, all of which have plain unfretted edges to the guard panels. The overall length of the sword is 37.5 inches (95 cm) long.

Nation : British
Local Price : £4,750.00

Georgian 1796 Pattern Lifeguard Disk-Hilt.... An extremely rare 1796 pattern, heavy cavalry 'Disk-Hilt' sword of the Life Guards. A large geometrically pierced, slightly dished guard with original

Nation : British
Local Price : £4750.00

A Stunning, Historical, Napoleonic War’s Period, 1796 Pattern Officer's Combat Sword of William A. Cuninghame, of the 95th. It’s rarity value is due to both it’s known specific history to a Napoleonic Wars family member and it’s condition. With superb provenance, that is very rare to survive. He was the father of Capt William Cuninghame Cuninghame, hero of the 79th Foot in the Crimean War, and brother of Capt. Thomas Cuninghame of the 45th Foot. One of all three original family swords, owned and used in combat by William Cunningham senior, all with their own built in provenance, from the world renown British Army, serving in the 95th, 45th and the 79th Regiments. All three were acquired, then expertly conserved by us. They were obtained by us from a direct line family descendant, still possessor of the same family name, and they are all all offered for sale by us separately, but the light infantry sabre of the 45th regiment is now sold. A super, antique and historical, officers combat sword of his ancestor, who fought with distinction in the Napoleonic Wars era. Each sword is engraved with the family name, crest, and motto. This sword, belonged to William Alexander, Cuninghame, who joined his regiment as a junior officer in April 1813, and served as an officer in the 95th regt., Another sword belonged, and was used, by Thomas Cuninghame, William Alexander's elder brother, who served in the 45th regt., both used by them in the Napoleonic Wars, and a basket hilted broadsword which we have also fully conserved, that was used by William Alexander Cuninghame's son, Capt. William Cuninghame Cuninghame, in the Crimean War. According to family record, W.A.Cuninghame while serving with his regiment was wounded in Guadaloupe in 1814, but this may well have been early 1815, during the British invasion to retake the island in Napoleon's Hundred Days period. The Hundred Days war was so called after Napoleon returned from exile in Elba, reformed his army, declared war on the allies, and that culminated in the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium, Wellington's great victory and Napoleon's final defeat. The 1796 Pattern British Infantry Officers Sword was carried by officers of the line infantry in the British Army between 1796 and the time of its official replacement with the gothic hilted sword in 1822. This period encompassed the whole of the Napoleonic Wars. The Napoleonic Wars, was a series of wars between Napoleonic France and shifting alliances of other European powers that produced a brief French hegemony over most of Europe. Along with the French Revolutionary wars, the Napoleonic Wars constitute a 23-year period of recurrent conflict that concluded only with the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon’s defeat by Wellington, and thus his subsequent second abdication on June 22, 1815. It is interesting that statistically Napoleon had fought and won more battles than the worlds next three great military commanders combined, however, despite his obvious genius he never actually won a war, and Wellington had never lost one. France had a population of 27,350,000 in 1801 as opposed to Great Britain’s 10,942,146, outnumbering Britain almost three to one, and France had gained much territory warfare since 1792. However, a significant advance in economic strength was to enable Great Britain to wage war against this formidable adversary and to achieve the “miracles of credit” whereby foreign military assistance could be subsidized. The French, whose manufactures progressed less dramatically than the British and whose seaborne trade had been strangled by the superior nature of Britain’s navy, found it impossible to raise funds commensurate with their aggressive policy in Europe, so that Napoleon had to rely on the spoils of conquest and looting to supplement the deficiencies of French finance. As a matter of course, Wellington had forbade his armies to engage in looting of any kind, upon penalty of severe flogging or worse. The Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars were massive in their geographic scope, ranging, as far as Britain was concerned, over all of the five continents. They were massive, too, in terms of expense. From 1793 to the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 the wars cost Britain more than £1,650,000,000. Only 25 percent of this sum was raised by government loans, the rest coming largely from taxation, not least from the income tax that was introduced in 1798. But the wars were massive most of all in terms of manpower. Between 1789 and 1815 the British army had to expand more than sixfold, to about a quarter of a million men. The Royal Navy, bedrock of British defence of its trade, and empire, grew further and faster still. Before the wars it had employed 16,000 men; by the end of them, it employed more than 140,000. Because there was an acute danger between 1797 and 1805 that France would invade Britain, the civil defense force also had to be expanded. The militia was increased, and by 1803 more than 380,000 men were acting as volunteers in home-based cavalry and infantry regiments. In all, one in four adult males in Britain may have been in uniform by the early 19th century. This sword’s design was introduced by General Order in 1796, replacing the previous 1786 Pattern. It was similar to its prececesor in having a spadroon blade, i.e. one straight, flat backed and single edged with a single fuller on each side. The hilt gilt brass with a knucklebow, vestigial quillon and a twin-shell guard somewhat similar in appearance to that of the smallswords which had been common civilian wear until shortly before this period. The pommel was urn shaped and, in many later examples, the inner guard was hinged to allow the sword to sit against the body more comfortably and reduce wear to the officer's uniform.

Nation : British
Local Price : £4650

Very Fine Victorian Scottish Dirk for a 79th (Cameron) Highlanders Officer dating to between 1855 to 1881. A very fine and impressive Scottish Military Dirk made for an Officer in the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders) between 1855 and 1871. The dirk is in excellent condition and of fine quality. The blade retains its original polish which highlights the etched and engraved regimental emblems, the VR cipher, battle honours and other Scottish military symbols. It is housed in its black wooden leather covered scabbard with its bi-knife and fork. The Ormolu bronze mounts retain all of the original detail. The baluster shaped grips of the dirk, bi-knife and fork are fashioned from black hardwood or ebony, carved with a pattern of basket weave with brass dome-headed studs mounted at the intersections. The raised ornate pommel tops are canted slightly forwards, and swollen at the rear, mounted with finely cut uniformly amber coloured multifaceted Citrine pommel stones, with decorative rims featuring bands of thistles, acorns and foliage (thistles and to a lesser degree acorns are symbolic components of Scottish heraldry). The dirk grip base mount is decorated in the same manner. This mount is raised into a panel at the front enhanced with further decoration. The grip base behind this mount is carved with a Scottish military bonnet. The cone shaped grip bases of the bi-knife and fork are plain and mounted with blued sprung steel clips on either side to secure the grips into the scabbard pocket tops. The bi-knife blade has a scalloped back edge and is marked by the blade making business “John Sellers” which first appeared in the Sheffield Directories in 1833. The leaf shaped blade is 11 inches (28 cm) long and has a scalloped back edge under which a deep fuller extends towards the tip and terminates just after the scallop line ends. After this the blade is double edged to the tip. A wider fuller extends from the hilt along the middle of the blade to just before the end of the scalloped line. The dirk blade is profusely etched and engraved in the typical high-quality manner of the late Victorian era and retains its original polished finish. On the “point up” side, with the cutting edge facing to the right, the “VR” cipher with a crown above is present near the hilt. Above this the number of the regiment “79” is featured inside a laurel wreath. Above the wreath pennants mark 12 battle honours of the regiment interspersed with foliage. The oldest is the Battle of Egmontopzee fought in 1799 in the Anglo-Russian Helder Campaign and the most recent is the Siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War in 1854-1855. Towards the tip the decoration features a flamboyant Scottish thistle. On the reverse side the blade base features the “VR” cipher, with a crown above, followed by a “79” inside a wreath similar to the same designs on the first side. Above the wreath a flamboyant Scottish thistle is present followed by a stand of arms centered with the Cross of St Andrew, surrounded with basket hilted swords, lances, muskets and banners. The area near the blade tip accommodates a panel of Scottish bluebells (harebells) which like thistles and acorns are symbols in Scottish heraldry and are the traditional plant badge for some clans. The dirk is housed in its wooden scabbard covered with black leather on top of which the scabbard mounts are applied. The mouthpiece to the front contains the regimental number 79 inside an oak and thistle leaf garland in raised relief. The bi-knife and chape mounts have thistle sprays and the bi-fork mount is of bluebells. The mounts at the back are plain and the back of the mouthpiece retains its raised bar suspension mount. The overall length of the dirk in its scabbard is just over 16.5 inches (just over 42 cm). The 79th or Cameron Highlanders was one of the most famous regiments of the British Army. The regiment was originally raised in 1793 as the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameronian Volunteers) in the Highlands of Scotland and in 1804 was renamed the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders). The regiment took part in many major engagements in the Napoleonic period including battles in Egypt, the Peninsula War and Waterloo. The thistles and acorns featured on the dirk are elements of the traditional arms of Clan Cameron. This dirk dates to the period shortly after the Siege of Sebastopol which lasted from 1854 to 1855 in the Crimean War. This is the last / latest battle honour depicted on the blade. In 1881, Childers Reforms to the British Infantry led to the regiment being renamed the 1st Battalion Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. Dirks made for the regiment were marked in this manner from then on. The regiment had embarked for the Crimea towards the end of the Crimean War in 1854 and completed its service there by participating in the end of the Siege and in the battles of Alma, Balaclava and the expedition to Kerch. Shortly after returning to the UK the regiment sailed to India to help suppress the Indian Mutiny and in 1858 took part in the Capture of Lucknow and the Battle of Bareilly. The dirk is not marked in its battle honours with this service in India which probably means the dirk had been made before this campaign took pace. The regiment returned to the UK in 1871. In 1873 Queen Victoria presented the regiment with new colours and directed that the regiment be known as the 79th Regiment, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. The regimental number of 79 was dispensed with in 1881. Hence the dirk dates to the period between 1855 and 1881. Condition: The condition of the dirk is excellent with only minor wear to the Ormolu backs of the scabbard mounts caused by the rubbing of clothing when the dirk has been worn. The pommel stones are in excellent condition with no cracks, chips or interference to the mount housings. The grips are in fine order and the studs are complete as are the sprung retention clips for the bi-knife and fork.

Nation : British
Local Price : £4650

Majestic Victorian Scottish Dirk for a 74th Highlanders Officer dating to before 1881. A very nice dirk of bold proportions for an officer of the 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot dating to before the widespread reforms to the British Infantry implemented by the Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881. As part of these reforms the 74th (Highland) Regiment amalgamated with the 71st (Highland) Regiment to become the Highland Light Infantry with the 74th forming the 2nd Battalion. The dirk mounts are of gilt bronze and it was retailed by Ponder, 37 Duke Street, St James, London. The single-edged leaf shaped blade is just under a foot long (just over 30 cm) and has a blunt back edge extending 7 inches (18 cm) from the base of the grip which is scalloped for most of its length after which it is double edged to the tip. A single pronounced fuller runs underneath the blunt back edge with a broader, shallower fuller running beneath along the middle of the blade. The blade is sumptuously etched and engraved on both sides. The side with the cutting edge to the left when the dirk is held upwards has the name of the retailer near the grip with a stand of arms above featuring banners, muskets, trumpets and a bonnet. A vacant circular depression in the middle of the stand of arms once contained a small circular brass stud which is now missing. The rest of the blade is taken up with 13 battle honours in scrolling script beginning with the Sieges of Seringapatam in India in 1792 / 1799 and ending with the Peninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic Period and the Battle for Toulouse in 1814 On the reverse side near the grip an elephant is present over which “ASSAYE” marks the involvement of the Regiment in the battle of that name in India in 1803. Above this a complex foliate panel contains a vacant cartouche in the middle. Above this the regimental badge is present on a star surround centred with a thistle surrounded by a circular belt with the words NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT (NO ONE PROVOKES ME WITH IMPUNITY) engraved within its borders , followed by another foliate panel containing the VR cypher and a crown above. The grips of the dirk, by-knife and fork are baluster shaped and of black hardwood cut with fluted basket weave patterns with brass studs mounted at the intersections. Each piece is mounted with a pommel with bold foliage and thistles in raised relief with yellow backed multi-faceted citrines mounted on top. The by-knife and fork are secured in their pockets with blued sprung steel clips mounted onto each grip on one side. The Regimental badge and motto “NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT ” is applied either side of the base mount of the dirk grip, similar to the badge on the blade, on a background of thistles and foliage. This was the Latin motto of the Royal Stuart dynasty of Scotland from at least the reign of James VI when it appeared on the reverse side of merk coins minted in 1578 and 1580. It is still the adopted motto of the Order of the Thistle and of some Scottish regiments of the modern British Army. The scabbard is of wood covered with black leather and retains its suspension bar and strap at the back. The mouthpiece to the front shows St Andrew holding a cross on a background of a star surrounded with foliage and thistles. The mount for the by-knife pocket shows an Indian Elephant with “ASSAYE” above, as on the blade, surrounded with thistles and foliage. On the mount of the by-fork pocket is the Regimental number “74” within a frame of foliage and thistles. The chape possesses further thistle designs. The dirk is in overall fine condition. The bronze mounts retain almost all of their gilt cover. The blade is in good condition. The pommel stones and their housings are intact. The overall length of the dirk in its scabbard is just over 189 inches (48.5 cm) long. The dirk alone is 17.75 inches (44.5 cm) long. The 74th was raised in 1787 by Archibald Campbell, their first Colonel, and was known as Campbell's Highlanders. The Regiment first saw action in India during the Mysore campaign of 1789, and subsequently saw action under Arthur Wellesley in the Mahratta War of 1802. Returning to Europe, the 74th served under Wellington again in the Peninsular campaign, and fought at Busaco, Fuentes d'Onoro, (both sieges of Badajoz), also the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca, Vittoria, Nivelles, Tarbes, Orthe, and Toulouse. It was then sent to help garrison Ireland, and so missed the Battle of Waterloo, although it was on its way to embark for Belgium when news of the battle arrived. The Regiment remained in Ireland until 1818 and was then in Canada and New Brunswick until 1828, Bermuda for a year, and in Ireland again from 1830 to 1834. Later in the 1830s and into the 1840s, the 74th was stationed in St. Lucia, Barbados and other islands in the West Indies; its personnel keeping remarkably healthy apart from one outbreak of fever and dysentery. Without coming home again, the Regiment went to Quebec in Canada. The 74th came back to Britain from Canada in March 1845 and later that year became the 74th (Highland) Regiment and served in the Kaffir War and in the Sepoy Rebellion. In 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, the 74th amalgamated with the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot to become the 2nd battalion, Highland Light Infantry.

Nation : Unknown
Local Price : £4,500.00

A Crisp D.B. Flintlock Sporting Gun. A D.B. Flintlock Sporting Gun by Brasher of London. Expertly reconverted to flintlock. With sighted browned double barrels, engraved ‘JOHN BRASHER – CAROLINE STREET’ with single platinum line breech block, profusely engraved tang cut with a sighting groove, stepped bevelled lock, signed beneath the pans, cocks engraved en suite, half-stocked in walnut cut with chequering at the grip, engraved steel mounts comprising butt plate, scrolling trigger guard, with brass tipped ramrod. BRASHER John Gun & Pistol Maker, Birmingham, 1807-31. Marked guns ‘LONDON’. Howard L. Blackmore (1986) Gunmakers Of London, 1350-1850. George Shumway Publisher. USA. Dimensions: Bore: Barrel Length: Overall Length:

Nation : British
Local Price : £4,500.00

A Brass Barrelled Flintlock Blunderbuss by H.W. Mortimer, London, Circa 1780.. A Brass Barrelled Flintlock Blunderbuss by H.W. Mortimer, London, Circa 1780. With belled brass barrel, engraved ‘HAPPY IS HE THAT ESCAPES ME’ around the muzzle, and engraved ‘H.W. MORTIMER LONDON, GUN MAKER TO HIS MAJESTY’ along the top flat and stamped with London proofs and Mortimers barrel smith mark, steel tang fitted with bayonet release catch, stepped bevelled lock signed ‘H.W. MORTIMER’ fitted with sliding safety catch and decorated with foliage, full-stocked in walnut, brass mounts comprising engraved brass escutcheon, engraved butt plate and three-screw side-plate engraved with martial trophy, and trigger guard with pineapple finial, and brass ramrod pipes with horn tipped ramrod (some damage to head). MORTIMER Harvey Walklate Son of Samuel Mortimer, born 1753. Apprenticed to father, 1772; free of Farriers Co., 1782; elected Assistant, 1807. Gunmaker, at Mr Greens ironmonger, 6 Kings Street., Lincolns Inn Fields, 1779; 89 Fleet Street., 1782-99. Appointed Gunmaker to George III, 1783. Contractor to East India Co., 1796-1806. Specialised in repeating pistols and gold mounted guns for the Eastern market. Advertised For the Inspection of the Curious, just finished, Three pair of Elegant Pistols, mounted in solid gold value 547 intended as a present to a foreign Prince, 1784 (Morning Herald, 20 August). Registered mark as small worker at Goldsmiths Hall, 1798. Made gold-mounted firearms set with diamonds for the U.S. Government as present for Bey of Tunis, 1801-2. Member of Law Association Volunteers, provided their muskets, 1803. His own musket in Inns of Court Museum, London. Became H. W. Mortimer, Son & T. Mortimer. Retired, 1811. Died 1819. Howard L. Blackmore (1986) Gunmakers Of London, 1350-1850. George Shumway Publisher. Dimensions: Bore: N/A Barrel Length: 14 Inches (35.56 cm) Overall Length: 29.5 Inches (74.93 cm)

Nation : Russian
Local Price : £4,500.00 GBP

Russian Bardiche, 17th Century. A 17th century Russian Bardiche polearm, carried by Russia's Streltsy, the semi-professional musketeer corps established under Ivan IV in the 1550s. The bardiche's long, sweeping axe blade served a dual purpose: a close-combat weapon and a functional rest for steadying heavy matchlock and flintlock muskets during volle"