Antique Arms & Militaria

Royal Bronze Battle Mace From 2,500 to 3,200 Years Old. From the Era of Rameses the Great of Egypt, to Darius, King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire

13th-6th century BC. This is a classic style royal baton mace head of the ancient Bronze Age culture. Examples of this mace can be seen in several of the world's finest ancient Near Eastern bronze collections. The shaft is elaborately decorated with raised striking knobs of a herringbone design. This was an effective striking weapon likely used by high-ranking soldiers or royal subjects due to its extremely decorative design. In battle, maces like this were often used by commanders to display rank when giving orders in battle and leading soldiers, inspiring leadership and power. A substantial bronze cudgel and mace with tubular body, ribbed collar, flared rim and panels of raised herringbone ornament. Ist to 2nd Millennium B.C. In use it would have slotted onto a wooden haft. Items such as this were oft acquired in the 18th century by British noblemen touring the Middle East, Northern France and Italy on their Grand Tour. Originally placed on display in the family 'cabinet of curiosities', within his country house upon his return home. A popular pastime in the 18th and 19th century, comprised of English ladies and gentlemen traveling for many months, or even years, throughout classical Europe, and the Middle East, acquiring antiquities and antiques for their private collections. The use of the stone headed mace as a weapon and a symbol od status and ceremony goes back to the Upper Palaeolithic stone age, but an important, later development in mace heads was the use of metal for their composition. With the advent of copper mace heads, they no longer shattered and a better fit could be made to the wooden club by giving the eye of the mace head the shape of a cone and using a tapered handle.

Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom, itself the most powerful period of Ancient Egypt.

The Shardanas or warriors from Sardinia who fought for Ramses II against the Hittities were armed with maces, exactly as this fabulous example, consisting of rounded wooden hafts with the bronze mace heads slotted upon the hafts. Many bronze statuettes of the times show Sardinian warriors carrying swords, bows and original maces.

Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans (Thrace–Macedonia and Paeonia) and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt (Mudrâya), eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan.

Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch Bardiya, whom he later fabricated to be an imposter named Gaumata. The new king met with rebellions throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time; a major event in Darius' life was his expedition to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and Eretria for their participation in the Ionian Revolt. Although his campaign ultimately resulted in failure at the Battle of Marathon, he succeeded in the re-subjugation of Thrace and expanded the Achaemenid Empire through his conquests of Macedon, the Cyclades and the island of Naxos as well as the sacked Greek city of Eretria.

Persians used a variety of maces and fielded large numbers of heavily armoured and armed cavalry (cataphracts). For a heavily armed Persian knight, a mace was as effective as a sword or battle axe. In fact, Shahnameh has many references to heavily armoured knights facing each other using maces, axes, and swords. The enchanted talking mace Sharur made its first appearance in Sumerian/Akkadian mythology during the epic of Ninurta. Roman though auxiliaries from Syria Palestina were armed with clubs and maces at the battles of Immae and Emesa in 272 AD. They proved highly effective against the heavily armoured horsemen of Palmyra. Photos in the gallery of original carvings from antiquity in the British Museum etc.; Ashurbanipal at the Battle of Til-Tuba, Assyrian Art / British Museum, London/ 650-620 BC/ Limestone,, An Assyrian soldier waving a mace escorts four prisoners, who carry their possessions in sacks over their shoulders. Their clothes and their turbans, rising to a slight point which flops backwards, are typical of the area; people from the Biblical kingdom of Israel, shown on other sculptures, wear the same dress, on a gypsum wall panel relief, South West Palace, Nimrud, Kalhu Iraq, neo-assyrian, 730BC-727BC.
A recovered tablet from Egypt's Early Dynastic Period (3150-2613 BC) shows a Pharaoh smiting his foe with a war mace. Part of an original collection we have just acquired, of antiquities, Roman, Greek, Middle Eastern, Viking and early British relics of warfare from ancient battle sites recovered up to and around 220 years ago. As with all our items it comes complete with our certificate of authenticity. This wonderful piece would have been made and traded throughout the Western Asiatic region. 551 grams, 24cm (9 1/4").  read more

Code: 23421

A Fabulous Napoleonic Peninsular & Waterloo Era British Light Dragoon Sword

Yet another one of our wonderful swords for sale. This British officer's sword, used by an officer under Wellington's command has a wonderful Kilij style blade with a double edged bottom section. It is a superb British sword cutlers representation of the Kilij and Shamshir swords captured at the Battle of The Nile, in the Egypt Campaign at the Battle of Aboukir and the Battle of Alexandria, and inspired so many sword designs of both the French and British protagonists. It has its London maker engraved cartouch on the scabbard throat, that, although worn and indistinct, is likely by Thomas Gill of London. When one holds this sword one can easily imagine the great turmoil and conflicts of battle its owners have seen, in fact some of the greatest cavalry charges and conflagrations that have ever been witnessed. In the early part of the 19th century the great Allied Powers conflict against Napoleon was certainly the greatest challenge the British Army and Navy had ever faced. In his time Napoleon was seen the greatest threat to Europe in the 19th century as Hitler's Germany was to the 20th century. His storming conquests across the whole of Europe seemed unstoppable. But Britain and her Allies combined to halt his insatiable desire to vanquish all who defied his dastardly attempt to rule the Western World. During this volatile time the great British Cavalry regiments formed the Army's fearsome offensive phalanx, and their courage, audacity and effectiveness were [and still are] legendary.  read more

Code: 22418

PRICE DROP AN AMAZING CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 50% OFF A Very Rare US Civil War 'C.Howard' Rimfire Long Gun with Underlever Action

Only the second we have seen in the past 10 years.
The Howard-Whitney Thunderbolt. This is undoubtedly one of the scarcest patent action guns made in the 1860's used in the American Civil War. .44 Cal Rimfire cartridge. There are elements of similarity in this rifle to the profile of Jean Baptiste Revol's of New Orleans patent breech loading rifle of 1853. In America around this time all manner of new gun actions and mechanisms were being created, in order to utilize the latest breech loading cartridges that had been designed to replace the outdated percussion muzzle loading system. This rifle, although not in pristine condition, and showing an overall russet finish, is a mighty rare gun and a must for collectors of rare patented long guns from this incredible era. For it was this very time, when no one new for certain which way the new cartridges could be made to function to their best advantage, that probably the most significant weapons were being created, and those systems and actions were to mould the whole industry of arms production even until today. Great and legendary gunsmiths, such as Henry who sold out to Winchester, were striving to create the best, most efficient, and indeed most marketable methods to evolve the rifle into the next level of development and progress, and this is likely one of those that simply failed to make the grade. This gun is one of only 2000 Mr. C. Howard's patent guns ever made, including the examples made under contract by Whitney Arms of Conn. USA. Made from the 1862 patent by Howard from the Civil War and by Whitney from 1866 to 1870. Most examples are marked by Whitney but just a few earlier examples were completely unmarked, and this is one of those. Some came to England in the late 19th century some after the war, so although a very rare gun, it is far rarer here in the UK. As with all our antique guns no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables  read more

Code: 22921

A Most Exotic & Impressive Indian Double Bladed Short Sword. This Actual Rare Short Sword or Long Dagger Was Featured Within The Lyle Arms and Armour Review Exactly 40 Years Ago in 1983

A previous specialist collector acquired this uniquely intriguing piece exactly 40 years ago from a world famous specialist auction, and allowed its inclusion in the annual Lyle Antiques Review book for inclusion.
This amazing piece is most reminiscent of the Indian double bladed bichwa, an assassins dagger from the old Mughal era, although this example is much bigger than a similar twin blades bichwa

Its twin serpent blades have twin fullers, a cast silvered-brass hilt, decorated with ornate designs.

To use such an extravagant weapon one would have had to have been very skilled and highly trained in its use, for the potential for the holder to do harm to his self must have been quite great.

It is so unusual that many today have never seen a surviving example like it before, and thus assumed that no example, or even a record of them, any longer existed. Incredibly, however, just recently we have found how that assumption was entirely mistaken. When we had acquired the dagger, the last previous owner mentioned to us this actual piece was photographed, and described, forty years ago, when it was published in 1983, within a highly respected reference book of fine arms, The Lyle Official Arms and Armour Review for 1983, {on page 34.}. But he had lost his original copy.
We then decided to trace a copy, and we were fortunately quickly successful. Within the book It is indeed listed, and photographed, and was described, complete with its auction sale price, {310 Dollars} at that time, as follows;

"Rare Indian U shaped double thrusting dagger, slightly waved bi-fullered double edged blades with squared ricassos, chisseled silvered brass grip with flowers and foliage".

We show a photograph in the gallery of its entry, photograph and listing with price, within the book. It also clearly shows what a sound financial investment this particular piece had become over the passing four decades.

It is a very attractive collectors item, likely 19th century, and without doubt a remarkable conversation piece. One Indian weaponry specialist once remarked he has seen a similar example once before in a museum in Delhi. It was within a one piece twin blade scabbard mounted upon an armoured horse’s parade saddle, with a display of a seated warrior upon the horse, adorned in a full suite of gold inlaid Mughal parade armour. It was, in his opinion, a short sword, to be used by a warrior while held in his left hand, when in combat if dismounted on foot, with a tulwar sword held in his right hand. A weapon effective as much as for intimidation as for function.

17.5 inches long overall.  read more

Code: 22521

A Most Fine US Civil War Period 9mm Revolver, Deluxe Engraved Throughout & Hand Carved Grips

The pinfire revolver was around the fourth most popular revolver used the Civil War, this deluxe officer's example is a very good example. With much original engraving, bag shaped carved bone grips and exceptionally crisp action, this is a great rarity and an absolutely beautiful example. In large bore 9mm pinfire calibre. A very nice example of a deluxe quality revolver of the Civil War.

A picture shown in the gallery of a Illinois US Cavalry Trooper with his regular military example of the large calibre pinfire revolver used in the Civil War, plain and with no frills. He is Private Silas York of Co. F, 5th Illinois Cavalry Regiment, with regulation US Cavalry issue single shot percussion pistol, his Lefaucheux large bore pinfire repeating revolver, and his US Cavalry issue sword Photo from the Library of Congress.

Pinfire pistols were very popular indeed during the Civil War and the Wild West period but very expensive as they took the all new pinfire cartridge, which revolutionised the way revolvers operated, as compared to the old fashioned percussion action. In fact, while the percussion cap & ball guns were still in production such as made by Remington, Colt and Starr and being used in the American Civil War, the much more efficient and faster pinfire guns that were only made from around 1860 were the fourth most popular gun chosen in the US, by those that could afford them, during the war.

General Stonewall Jackson was presented with two deluxe pinfire pistols with carved grips, and many other famous personalities of the war similarly used them. The American makers could not possibly fulfil all the arms contracts that were needed to supply the war machine, especially by the non industrialised Confederate Southern States. So, London made guns were purchased, by contract, by the London Arms Company in great quantities, as the procurement for the war in America was very profitable indeed. They were dispatched out in the holds of hundreds of British merchant ships. First of all, the gun and sword laden vessels would attempt to break the blockades, surrounding the Confederate ports, as the South were paying four times or more the going rate for arms, but, if the blockade proved to be too efficient, the ships would then proceed on to the Union ports, such as in New York where the price paid was still excellent, but only around double the going rate. This pistol was the type that was so popular, as a fast and efficient revolvers by many of the officers of both the US and the CSA armies, and later, in the 1870's onwards by gamblers and n'ear do wells in the Wild West.

The grips so natural age cracking, but very sound

As with all our antique guns, no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectors items  read more

Code: 24258

A Fabulous & Impressive Large 10th Century Original Viking Spear, Classified as 'Petersen type G'... Vápnum sínum skal-a maðr velli á feti ganga framar, því at óvíst er at vita, nær verðr á vegum úti geirs of þörf guma

From the 13th century Codex Regius, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking Age. Verse 38 quoted above is translated here;

Let a man never stir on his road a step
without his weapons of war;
for unsure is the knowing when need shall arise
of a spear on the way without.

Circa 10th century. A fabulous example of an original Viking war spear.
Using the Petersen scale of dating swords axes and spears of the medieval era, it is around 1100 years old, and in super condition for its age. With a slightly impacted tip, possibly bent from penetration of mail armour or shield. With edge shoulders placed low on the blade and a short conical socket with marked narrowing below the blade. Although not as glamorous as the sword, the spear was in every sense the definitive weapon of the Viking Age and used as the primary weapon of combat by almost every warrior. Decorated spearheads inlaid with precious metals prove that in the Viking Age spears were not seen as the poor man's choice and one has only to look at the representations of warriors from the illuminated manuscripts of the era to quickly come to the conclusion that the use of the spear was ubiquitous. Many of the Anglo-Saxon phrases used to describe both battle and warrior help to underline the importance of the spear.

The spearheads were made of iron, and, like sword blades, were made using pattern welding techniques (described in the article on swords) during the early part of the Viking era . They could be decorated with inlays of precious metals or with scribed geometric patterns
After forming the head, the smith created the tang in the early period, such as for a javelin type spear, or in the later Viking mostly a socket fitting for a regular spear. Sometimes with holes for rivets to grip onto the haft.

However, there is little evidence that tells us the length of the shaft. The archaeological evidence is negligible, and the sagas are, for the most part, silent. Chapter 6 of Gísla saga tells of a spear so long-shafted that a man's outstretched arm could touch the rivet. The language used suggests that such a long shaft was uncommon.

Perhaps the best guess we can make is that the combined length of shaft and head of Viking age spears was 2 to 3m (7-10ft) long, although one can make arguments for the use of spears having both longer and shorter shafts. A strong, straight-grained wood such as ash was used. Many people think of the spear as a throwing weapon. One of the Norse myths tells the story of the first battle in the world, in which Odin, the highest of the gods, threw a spear over the heads of the opposing combatants as a prelude to the fight. The sagas say that spears were also thrown in this manner when men, rather than gods, fought. At the battle at Geirvör described in chapter 44 of Eyrbyggja saga, the saga author says that Steinþórr threw a spear over the heads of Snorri goði and his men for good luck, according to the old custom. More commonly, the spear was used as a thrusting weapon. The sagas tell us thrusting was the most common attack in melees and one-on-one fighting, and this capability was used to advantage in mass battles. In a mass battle, men lined up, shoulder to shoulder, with shields overlapping. After all the preliminaries, which included rock throwing, name calling, the trading of insults, and shouting a war cry (æpa heróp), the two lines advanced towards each other. When the lines met, the battle was begun. Behind the wall of shields, each line was well protected. Once a line was broken, and one side could pass through the line of the other side, the battle broke down into armed melees between small groups of men.

Before either line broke, while the two lines were going at each other hammer and tongs, the spear offered some real advantages. A fighter in the second rank could use his spear to reach over the heads of his comrades in the first rank and attack the opposing line. Konungs skuggsjá (King’s Mirror), a 13th century Norwegian manual for men of the king, says that in the battle line, a spear is more effective than two swords

Part of an original medieval collection we have acquired, of Viking and early British relics of warfare from ancient battle sites recovered up to 220 years ago. 14 inches long.

Almost every iron weapon that has survived today from this era is now in a fully russetted condition, as is this one, because only a very few of the swords of kings, that have been preserved in national or Royal collections can today be still in a relatively good state and surface condition. However, Bronze Age swords, daggers etc. that are usually much earlier, survive far better as they only suffer from surface ageing and patination, unlike iron and steel weaponry, which makes early iron weapons so incredibly rare, especially the Viking examples, as so many were abandoned, lost in battle or sacrificed due to precious few Viking burials discovered.

As with all our items it comes complete with our certificate of authenticity, and an attractive complimentary display stand.  read more

Code: 22758

An Amazing and Very Fine Original Moghul Empire Katar, As With Most Of The Finest Surviving Katar It Has a 17th Century European Blade. Made and Used From the Time Of Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan

Indian katar from the era of Shah Jahan, builder of The Taj Mahal, the most famous monument to a beloved wife in the world. This wonderful Katar push dagger is mounted with a likely German sword blade from the early 1600s. It was very popular in the Moghul era to import German blades and mount them with Indian hilts. The blade is attached to the hilt with traditional multi rivetting, and the chisseled hilt is overlaid in areas of sheet silver or gold, as would be suitable for a prince. It appears gold in colour but it may be aged silver. Painting circa 1650 of Moghul Shah Shuja who was the second son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Empress Mumtaz Mahal, wearing his similar Katar. He was the governor of Bengal and Odissa and had his capital at Dhaka, presently Bangladesh.

Shah Jahan is best remembered for his architectural achievements. His reign ushered in the golden age of Mughal architecture. Shah Jahan commissioned many monuments, the best known of which is the Taj Mahal in Agra, in which is entombed his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. His relationship with Mumtaz Mahal has been heavily adapted into Indian art, literature and cinema. He owned the royal treasury, and several precious stones such as the Kohinoor and has thus often been regarded as the wealthiest person in history.

The death of his father Jahangir in late 1627 spurred a war of succession between his sons Shahryar and Khurram from which Shah Jahan emerged victoriously. He executed all of his rivals for the throne and crowned himself emperor on January 1628 in Agra, under the regnal title "Shah Jahan" (which was originally given to him as a princely title). His rule saw many grand building projects, including the Red Fort and the Shah Jahan Mosque. Foreign affairs saw war with the Safavids, aggressive campaigns against the Shia Deccan Sultanates,10 conflict with the Portuguese, and positive relations with the Ottoman Empire. Domestic concerns included putting down numerous rebellions, and the devastating famine from 1630-32.

In September 1657, Shah Jahan fell seriously ill. This set off a war of succession among his four sons in which his third son, Aurangzeb, emerged victorious and usurped his father's throne. Shah Jahan recovered from his illness, but Emperor Aurangzeb put his father under house arrest in Agra Fort from July 1658 until his death in January 1666. He was laid to rest next to his wife in the Taj Mahal. His reign is known for doing away with the liberal policies initiated by Akbar. Shah Jahan was an Orthodox Muslim, and it was during his time that Islamic revivalist movements like the Naqsbandi began to shape Mughal policies  read more

Code: 21565

A Very Rare & Simply Stunning, Original Ancient Classical Early Iron & Bronze Age Dagger, Circa Three Thousand Two Hundred Years Old, From The Time of The Trojan Wars & The Siege of Troy. As Detailed In Homer's Iliad

This is one of the earliest ancient classical iron and bronze daggers we have ever seen, and only Tutankhamun's iron and gold dagger is known to exist that is that much older than this finest example. A near identical dagger is decorated upon an archaic attic ware amphora, circa 550 bc, a scene of ancient, warring mythical figures, that resides in a famed Paris museum.

We show in the gallery a piece of decorated ancient Greek attic ware, with a scene of Hercules and Geryon, and the warrior, on the right of three winged warriors in the photo, bears a so similar dagger, as could be deemed identical, swinging from his waist. It is on display at the Cabinet des Médailles, in Paris, catalogued as an Attic Black Figure Shape Amphora. ca. 550 - 540 B.C. from the Archaic period

This dagger is in very good excavated condition, found around 250 years ago, so its blade's condition is very aged, yet it is in fantastic condition bearing it mind it is around 3200 years old.

One cannot over emphasise the rarity of such as this wonderful piece, and to find a Bronze Age and earliest Iron Age combination metals dagger, it a rare treasure indeed. From the ancient pre-history era, made in the time of the Siege of Troy, the ancient Phoenicians, and the earliest period of ancient Greek and Minoan pre-history.

It is incredible to comprehend that this fine piece would have been a revered weapon when it was likely used around the time of the Siege of Troy, and during the earliest Greek-Persian Wars. It would have already been 700 years old and a piece of great antiquity, at the time when Alexander The Great was embarking on his extraordinary campaign to conquer the Persian Empire in 335 BC.
He eventually conquered half the known world and was to become the greatest ruler in history. This exceptionally beautiful and rare artefact, around 3000 years old, and it superbly demonstrates the skill of the artisans from the bronze age and iron age combined.
With a flanged eared pommel in iron, a bronze hilt and grip, and a double ribbed double edged blade in iron/steel. In 3000 BC plus, iron was a tremendously scarce and precious metal, scarcely know around most of the world.
The earliest known iron artefacts, apart from Tutankhamun's Dagger, are nine small beads, dated to 3200 BC, from burials in Gerzeh, northern Egypt, and they were also made from meteoric iron, and shaped by careful hammering. King Tut continues to astound the archaeological community, as new research shows that the ancient Egyptian child pharaoh was buried with a dagger that part originated from the heavens.

The iron bladed dagger placed in his sarcophagus, next to the right thigh of his mummified body, was manufactured from a meteorite, according to researchers from Milan Polytechnic, Pisa University and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The team carried out an analysis using non-invasive, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and published their results in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

Archaeologist Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922 sparked worldwide fascination with the 14th Century BC pharaoh. Three years later, two blades one iron and one gold were found in the wrapping of the 18th Dynasty mummy. Iron's qualities, in contrast to those of bronze, were not understood. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of iron objects was fast and far-flung. In the history of ferrous metallurgy, iron smelting, the extraction of usable metal from oxidized iron ores, is more difficult than tin and copper smelting. These other metals and their alloys can be cold-worked, or melted in simple pottery kilns and cast in moulds; but smelted iron requires hot-working and can be melted only in specially designed furnaces. It is therefore not surprising that humans only mastered iron smelting after several millennia of bronze metallurgy. We show in the gallery Tutankhamun's iron bladed dagger and Carter's photograph of its discovery in his tomb. 11.5 inches overall, approx. 16 ozs  read more

Code: 22582

A Fabulous Historical Revolutionary War & Napoleonic Wars Chasseurs Cheval Sabre, From the King's Cousin's Castle, Where the Late Queen Spent Her German State Visit in 1965 with Prince Philip

With incredible historical provenence, part of the French war souvenirs from Schloss Langenburg, which is the ancestral seat of the Princes Hohenlohe-Langenburg in Southern Germany, and is today the family home of Princess Saskia and Prince Philipp zu Hohenlohe- Langenburg. The historical arms and armour from the Schloss Langenburg armoury were sold some years ago, and included this fabulous French sword, that was formerly with other weapons cap-tured from the military campaigns of Field Marshal Friedrich Karl Wilhelm, Furst zu Hohenlohe, who served the Habsburg Monarchy, and fought in many campaigns against France. This fabulous and rare French sword was used from the revolution, in the Nile campaign and the Napoleonic wars by the Chasseurs a Cheval. It is mounted absolutely correctly with a blade modelled on the 1781 regulation, with characteristic residual ricasso, gilt-brass hilt of the successive issue type, retaining its original leather-covered grip bound with brass single-strand wire, the blade and the knuckle-guard struck with War Administration acceptance marks, a fasces and a cockerel respectively, and the inner face of the guard with the maker's stamped signature 'Liorard' 92 cm; 36" in blade The fasces and cockerel State acceptance marks were introduced by the Comite de Salut Public in 1793, in place of the marks of military inspectors absent within the revolutionary period. Liorard is recorded as a fourbisseur working at 163, rue de la Verrerie, Paris, in the 18th and 19th century. See M. Petard 1999, pp.122-3, figs. 112a & 112b, pp.180-1, figs. 11 & 17. also Armes Blanches Symbolisme Inscriptions Marquages Fourbousseurs Manufactures by Jean Lhoste and Jean-Jacques Buigne. In 1828, there was the marriage at Kensington Palace of Prince Ernst zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg to Princess Anna Feodora zu Leiningen, the half-sister of the future Queen Victoria. In 1896 Princess Feodora's grandson, Ernst II zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, married Queen Victoria's granddaughter Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Princess Alexandra was the third daughter of H.R.H. Prince Alfred, son of Queen Victoria and H.R.H. The Prince Albert, she was also the grand-daughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. The family link between the Windsors and the Hohenlohe-Langenburgs remains a strong one. H.M. The Queen visited Schloss Langenburg during her German State Visit in 1965, together with H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh and his sister, H.R.H. Princess Margarita. The original Mercedes 600 in which they toured is today preserved in the Car Museum at the castle. In 1792, Field Marshal Friedrich Karl Wilhelm, Furst zu Hohenlohe was initially placed in command of the 50,000 Austrian forces in the Upper Rhine Valley. In August, his forces crossed the Rhine by Mannheim, and participated in the bombardment of Thionville, on the Moselle, in early September. Although the invading forces of the allies readily captured Longwy on 23 August and slowly marched on to Verdun, which was even less defensible than Longwy. The Duke of Brunswick now began his march on Paris and approached the defiles of the Argonne. In combination with the Army of Conde and Hessian troops, a portion of his force, 15,000, covered the left (southern) flank of the Prussian advance on Valmy.

As a seasoned and experienced officer, he had been chosen as a mentor for the young Archduke Charles, and the archduke was assigned to his force; they were not at Valmy, but could hear the cannonade. The Duke of Brunswick's force was to engage the northern flank of the French army, called the Army of the Sedan, while Hohenlohe-Kirchberg's force engaged the southern flank (Army of the Metz).

In December 1792, Hohenlohe-Kirchberg's forces defended Trier from the Army of the Moselle so well that its commander, General of Division Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville, was removed from his command by his superiors in Paris. On 31 December, Hohenlohe-Kirchberg was awarded the Grand Cross of Military Order of Maria Theresa for his success at Trier.
In May 1793, his forces played a decisive role in the victory at the Battle of Famars. He was appointed as General Quarter Master and Chief of Staff to the Coalition's main army in Flanders, succeeding General Karl Mack. As part of the Belgian Corps under Field Marshal Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld he played a decisive role in the action at Avesnes-le-Sec and later at the Battle of Fleurus (1794). Subsequently, Hohenlohe-Kirchberg commanded a corps on the upper Rhine and was responsible for the recapture of Speyer from the French on 17 September 1794. His second in command was Friedrich Karl Wilhelm, F?rst (prince) zu Hohenlohe-IngelfingenIn later Field Marshal. Ijn 1801, Prince Friedrich Karl Wilhelm was appointed Colonel (Inhaber) of 7th Dragoon Regiment. Prior to the Capitulation of Ulm, he, Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, and Archduke Ferdinand d'Este broke out of the French cordon surrounding the city and escaped to Bohemia, hotly pursued by the French cavalry. On the 5th of November, he commanded an Austrian cavalry column at the Battle of D?renstein and a few weeks later, he commanded the Austrian cavalry at the Allied defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz. This wonderful sword has its original wire binding over the original leather grip, it is in very good condition indeed and has an excellent blade. No scabbard.  read more

Code: 22862

A Fabulous & Most Rare Large Irish Brass Barrelled Flintlock Blunderbuss Pistol, Circa 1700's

A stunning and beautiful flintlock, with a lock bearing the maker's name, within a lozenge shaped poincon stamp, of its Irish gunsmith. Through diligent research we can find no other example of his fine workmanship surviving in the world today. Therefore, this may well be a uniquely surviving example of his finest quality pistols remaining and still in existence. This is not to say definitively there are no other examples of his work remaining somewhere, maybe within a darkened corner of a distant museum, but we can certainly find no trace of one. The fine brass barrel is not proved which is exactly as we would expect to find, for prior to 1712, there was no requirement or legislation in place, to cover barrel proofing in Ireland, and although officially 1712 was the official date, some were finished with unproved barrels for a decade or so later. Indeed following the Act of Union in 1801 it could be surmised that all barrels would be subject to British proof, either by the Birmingham or London Proof Houses. However, this obviously did not occur, but when barrels were imported from Irish cities, they were later marked with the relevant British proofs. But arms that remained in Ireland may have spent their entire working lives unproved. The barrel is brass and its wonderful walnut stock has a magnificent patina. The butt cap bears the Queen Anne type grotesque butt mask, but most unusually this has a double face, both grimacing one way, and sad, when viewed from the opposite side.


Every single item from The Lanes Armoury is accompanied by our unique Certificate of Authenticity. Part of our continued dedication to maintain the standards forged by us over the past 100 years of our family’s trading

Approx 15 inches long overall  read more

Code: 23554