Europe’s Leading Original Samurai Sword Specialists

After 50 years personal experience by Mark, since 1971, we are probably Europe’s leading samurai sword specialists, with hundreds of swords to view and buy online 24/7, or in our store on a personal visit, 6 days a week. In fact we know of no better and varied original samurai sword selection for sale under one roof outside of Japan, or probably, even within it. Hundreds of original pieces up to 800 years old. Whether we are selling to our clients representing museums around the globe, the world’s leading collectors, or simply a first time buyer, we offer our advice and guidance in order to assist and guide the next custodian of a fine Japanese sword, to make the very best choice for them.

But that of course is just one part of the story of The Lanes Armoury, and the Hawkins brothers

Both of the partners of the company have spent literally all of their lives surrounded by objects of history, trained, almost since birth in the arts, antiques and militaria. Supervised and mentored, first by their grandfathers, then their father, who left the RAF sometime after the war, to become one of the leading antique exporters and dealers in the entire world. Selling, around the whole world, through our network of numerous shops, warehouses, and antique export companies, in today’s equivalent, hundreds of millions of pounds of our antiques and works of art.

Both Mark and David were incredibly fortunate to be mentored by some of the world’s leading experts within their fields of antiques and militaria. Just to mention two of Mark’s mentors, one was Edward ‘Ted’ Dale, chief auctioneer and managing director in the 1960’s and 70’s of Bonham’s Auctioneers of London, and another Bill ‘Yorkie’ Cole, the company’s ‘keeper of horse’, who revelled in the title of the company’s ‘head stable boy’ right up until his 90’s, in fact he refused to retire, he simply ‘faded away’. He controlled our stables and horse drawn vehicles up to the 1970’s. He was a true Brighton character, whose experiences in the antique trade went way back to WW1, and, amongst other skills, he taught young Mark, as a teenager in the 1960’s, to drive a horse drawn pantechnicon with ‘Dolly’, Britain’s last surviving English dray horse that was trained for night driving in the ‘blackout’ during the blitz.
Mark has been a director and partner in the family businesses since 1971, but long before that he was handling and buying swords and flintlocks since he was just seven years old, obviously in a very limited way though, naturally. David, Mark’s younger brother, also started collecting militaria when he was seven, and as you will by now guess, history, antiques and militaria is simply in their blood. Over 35 years ago they decided to sell their export business and concentrate where their true hearts lie, in the world military history and its artefacts, from antiquity to the 20th century. From rare books, to, samurai swords.

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