Antique Arms & Militaria

A magnificent original set, that would cost today, to be bespoke custom hand made, in excess of £125,000. the hand engraving alone is simply breathtaking.

A finest, King William IVth period, original cased English double Damascus barrelled sporting gun by one of England's pre-eminent makers of the 19th century, William Parker of 233 High Holborn, gun maker to Prince Edward, to King William IV (1830-1837) and the Duke of Kent. The whole gun's mounts are hand engraved with superlative skill and expertise, it features, pheasants, a gun dog, dolphin hammers a stunning pineapple finial to the trigger guard and profuse scrolling arabesques. The stock is the finest Juglans Regia walnut and the mahogany case bears its original baize lining and maker label. It is fully fitted throughout with essential equipment and tools including a signed copper powder flask, a shoulder mounted bandolier type shot flask, a percussion cap tin, a gun fitted ram rod, and a separate case ram/cleaning rod, oil bottle, and a most rare shot-pouring funnel, nipple key and screw driver. To replace such a fine hand made gun today, likely only Purdey or Boss of London could have the skills required to replicate it. A fine engraved Purdey side by side, with a pair of Damas barrels, costs today £113,500, with an 18 months to 2 year waiting time, and additional costs for casing and tools. When John Field died in 1791, William Parker went into partnership with his widow (name not known), and they traded as Field & Parker. John Field had been a goldsmith, sword cutler and gun maker at 233 High Holborn from 1783 to 1791, trading under his own name and also as Field & Co and Field & Clarke (William Clarke of Duke Street, Portland Place). In 1793, William Parker bought John Field's widow's share of the partnership. From that date he ceased being a goldsmith. In 1803, on John Brown's bankruptcy, he appears to have bought the rights to Joseph Hall's "New Invented Hammer" patent (No. 2573 of 1802 - waterproof primer and steel)from John Brown, and he used George Dodd's 1805 patented lock. In 1803 he started to supply the London Police Offices with guns. In 1804 William Parker became a Contractor to Ordnance. In 1806 Parker opened additional workshops at 22 Chamber Street, these moved in 1808 to 52 & 31-32 Chamber Street.

In 1814 the firm rented additional production facilities at John Stinton's workshops in Glasshouse Yard. In about 1814 William Parker's daughter, Mary, married John Field Jnr. From 1820 to 1826 William was recorded at 60 Theobalds Road (workshop). In 1829 William Parker started to supply guns to the Metropolitan Police (London Police Offices re-named). At some time William Parker became gun maker to Prince Edward, then to King William IV (1830-1837) and the Duke of Kent. In 1833 William became a contractor to the East India Company, and in 1837 a contractor to the Hudson's Bay Company. The double-barrelled sporting gun was seen as a weapon of prestige and authority, especially in the days of the East India Company and the later Raj in India, where it was known as Dunali (literally "two pipes"). It was especially valued in Bihar, Purvanchal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab

In 1838 Ordnance contract ended and the firm moved their workshops to 10 Chamber Street. In 1841 William Parker died, aged 68, and John Field Jnr and his sons trading as Parker, Field & Sons took over. This fabulous gun is in overall excellent condition. As with all our antique guns, no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables  read more

Code: 22880

9995.00 GBP

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Over 2000 years old. Unusually it is a good wearable size. UK size R

*Corinthian bronze, also named Corinthian brass or aes Corinthiacum, was a metal alloy in classical antiquity. It is thought to be an alloy of copper with gold or silver (or both), although it has also been contended that it was simply a very high grade of bronze, or a kind of bronze that was manufactured in Corinth.

The wearing of the ring was the prerogative alone of Roman citizens or those of high rank and esteem, that some gladiators always aspired to but rarely achieved due to their short life span within their violent craft. However some did achieve such great success and were rewarded with riches, freedom and the right to wear the traditional Roman bronze status ring. Gladiators rings would be intaglio engraved depicting the exotic and fearsome beasts they fought, such as Lions, Tigers, Bears, Rhinocerous or even Sharks in giant water tanks complete with ships, or, armoured gladiators in combat. Could one imagine simply the logistics of transporting live sharks from the sea into the middle of Rome, it is simply astounding.

Julius Caesar (though he was never officially an emperor, he held the title of dictator perpetuo and is often considered the precursor to the imperial system)
The Julian Dynasty
Augustus (also known as Octavian, he was the first official emperor, reigning from 27 BC to AD 14)
Tiberius (reigned from AD 14 to 37)
Caligula (reigned from AD 37 to 41)
Claudius (reigned from AD 41 to 54)
Nero (reigned from AD 54 to 68)
The year of the 4 emperors, preceded by reign dates.
June 68 - Jan 69: Galba
Jan 69 - Apr 69: Otho
Apr 69 - Dec 69: Vitellius

The Flavian Dynasty
69 - 79: Vespasian
79 - 81: Titus
81 - 96: Domitian

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty
96 - 98: Nerva
98 - 117 a.d.: Trajan

The Gladiators from Caeser to Trajan
In 65 BC, newly elected curule aedile Julius Caesar held games that he justified as munus to his father, who had been dead for 20 years. Despite an already enormous personal debt, he used 320 gladiator pairs in silvered armour. He had more available in Capua but the senate, mindful of the recent Spartacus revolt and fearful of Caesar's burgeoning private armies and rising popularity, imposed a limit of 320 pairs as the maximum number of gladiators any citizen could keep in Rome. Caesar's showmanship was unprecedented in scale and expense; he had staged a munus as memorial rather than funeral rite, eroding any practical or meaningful distinction between munus and ludi.

Gladiatorial games, usually linked with beast shows, spread throughout the republic and beyond. Anti-corruption laws of 65 and 63 BC attempted but failed to curb the political usefulness of the games to their sponsors. Following Caesar's assassination and the Roman Civil War, Augustus assumed imperial authority over the games, including munera, and formalised their provision as a civic and religious duty. His revision of sumptuary law capped private and public expenditure on munera, claiming to save the Roman elite from the bankruptcies they would otherwise suffer, and restricting gladiator munera to the festivals of Saturnalia and Quinquatria. Henceforth, an imperial praetor's official munus was allowed a maximum of 120 gladiators at a ceiling cost of 25,000 denarii; an imperial ludi might cost no less than 180,000 denarii. Throughout the empire, the greatest and most celebrated games would now be identified with the state-sponsored imperial cult, which furthered public recognition, respect and approval for the emperor's divine numen, his laws, and his agents. Between 108 and 109 AD, Trajan celebrated his Dacian victories using a reported 10,000 gladiators and 11,000 animals over 123 days.

*Pliny the Elder distinguished it into three kinds, depending on the metal that is added to the copper base: in the first, gold is added (luteum); in the second, silver (candidum); in the third, gold, silver, and copper are equally blended. Plutarch and Cicero both comment that Corinthian bronze, unlike many other copper alloys, is resistant to tarnishing, and the ring certainly appears to have resisted tarnishing at the bottom two thirds of the intaglio seal engraving.  read more

Code: 25491

895.00 GBP

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The iron head is in superb condition for its age, with fixed and shortened haft straps. It’s original haft is now very worn.
Halberds appeared by the late Middle Ages. The halberd’s origin, or its evolution from earlier battle axes, is obscure. Some Georgian-era antiquarians traced the weapon all the way back to the ancient Amazons of classical mythology. Other sources called it “the Danish axe” and credited its invention to the Vikings. In documented history, Swiss soldiers fighting for the independence of their cantons or as international mercenaries made the halberd famous in the 14th century.

Halberds were mounted on sturdy poles about six to eight feet long, which were crafted from ash or similar hardwoods. The iron head had a pointed long spear tip with two additional blades set at right angles to the central axis. One of these side blades resembled a hatchet head, and the other was a sharp, downturned fluke or hook. The hatchet blades often were small and crescent-shaped and could have elaborate contours and pierced decoration as does this halberd. On the other hand, some halberds had a monstrously large axe added to one side. Those designed for combat were usually sturdy and simple, while those with the more elaborate patterns were carried by honour guards and palace sentries.

The halberd’s pointed tip fended off opponents, as would a simple pike. The sharp point could puncture chain mail or slip between plates of armor. The curved fluke could catch a horse’s reins or pull riders down from their mounts. By swinging the six to eight-foot-long wooden handle, the axe blade landed with considerable power on the armour of a dismounted knight. Halberdiers were vulnerable when swinging their weapons back to deal a blow. They were also at a disadvantage against soldiers carrying much longer weapons, such as lances or full pikes. In practice, armies mixed halberdiers with soldiers bearing pikes, bows, and other weapons.

The introduction of the harquebus in the early 16th century heralded the slow demise of the halberd as a battlefield weapon.
Halberds also helped soldiers climb up steep slopes or defensive obstacles. The sharp axe-like blades were also perfect for hacking and tearing down field fortifications such as fascines or gabions.

It has its original studded haft but since it has been in armoury display for likely two to three centuries, all its surface velvet is now gone and overall surface worn. Delivery fully intact and full length, upon its haft, can be within the UK mainland only. Photo two in the gallery are three halberd in an Italian castle armoury, the third on the far right is very similar to this one. Note the red velvet covered hafts within the castle armoury photo of three halberds, that is how this one would have looked originally, but the red velvet is now completely lost through age, and it now looks as it does on the third halberd in the photo.

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, as Britain’s oldest established, and favourite, armoury and gallery  read more

Code: 25650

2650.00 GBP

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A wonderful antique khanjar dagger of all wootz steel, and the hilt is decorated with chiselled flower heads within an Islamic geometric cartouche form pattern, with scrolling acanthus leaves and flowers at the ricasso of the wootz Damascus blade, overlaid with fine gold koftgari.

Likely worn and used by such as, for example, a great ruler of the Ottoman's, Ali Pasha {he ruled from the 1788 till 1822}.
The great Ali Pasha was, during the Napoleonic Wars, at first, an admirer of Napoleon and formed a brief alliance with him during said Napoleonic wars, but, with changing winds he went against his previous ally in order to support the British. Napoleon thus sanctioned a planned rebellion against Ali, but the British arrived, as funds were being collected and rebels were being recruited. Ali's rival, Ibrahim Pasha of Berat, turned to the French and gathered a coalition of Ali's enemies, including Mustafa Pasha of Delvinë, Pronio Aga of Paramythia, Hasan Çapari of Margariti, the Beys of Himara, the Aga of Konispoli and the Souliotes. This coalition began attacking Ali's realm with support from French artillery, and Ali responded by bribing Ibrahim's supporters with British support. Ali besieged Ibrahim Pasha in Berat with an 8,000-man army commanded by the Albanian captain Omer Bey Vrioni, and with the aid of British rockets, Berat finally fell after a year of skirmishing. Ibrahim retired to Vlorë, and Ali told the Porte that he had taken Berat in response to the revolts in upper Albania that were the result of Ibrahim's inability to rule

The wootz of the blade is in the typical recurved form shape with an armour piercing tip. The type of dagger arm was particularly adept at piercing the armour of enemy combatants.

Developed originally in India, wootz steel technology features a system of isolating micro carbides within a matrix of tempered martensite. The ancient metalwork specialist Herbert Maryon of the British Museum in London described the metal technique as: the undulations of the steel resemble a net across running water the pattern waved like watered silk it was mottled like the grains of yellow sand. With roots in the Tamil Nudu region of the sub-continent, the technology was considered the most effective in the world for maximizing armor piercing potential. The indigenous Indian population presented the invading armies of Alexander the Great with tribute ingots of wootz around 300 B.C. From there, the process was refined over time throughout the world in Damascus, Syria; continental Europe; and later Great Britain, where the process underpinned the Industrial Revolution that began in the 18th century. The Rajahs of India submitted tulwars, shamshirs, khanjars, in addition to other ancient swords and daggers manufactured with wootz to the International Exhibition of 1851 and 1862, whereby the pieces become coveted for the quality of their steel.

We show in the gallery an 18th century portrait of Yirmisekizzade Mehmed Said Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in Paris. At his waist is his gold hilted khanjar almost identical to ours.

Originally this khanjar would have had a simple red velvet covered wooden scabbard, now lost.

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, as Britain’s oldest established, and favourite, armoury and gallery  read more

Code: 20674

3950.00 GBP

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A British Victorian Export Enfield Pattern 56, bayonet pattern 1856-58, for the two band Enfield Rifle, a Yataghan blade sword bayonet, the regulation bar-on-barrel, model. Bar on the band muzzle ring. The blade is 22 3/4", with Birmingham retailers name CHAVASSE(Horace Chavasse), at the ricasso/forte, with serial number and Confederate regimental numeral stamps. And no British government inspector or ordnance marks, just as it shouldn’t.

Overall in superb condition for age.

You really don't see such rarities available in the UK market today, and precious few in the American market actually, especially one that came from the States 50 odd years ago.

We bought the entire small collection from the widow of a 'Best of British Empire and German' Rifles and Bayonets' collector, who acquired them over the past 40 years, and only ever kept the very best he could afford to keep. Act fast they are selling really fast. All are top quality and condition,19th and 20th century scarce British and German collectables are always the most desirable of all. This bayonet he bought in Louisiana in the USA, in 1970's

Horace Chavasse of Alma Street, Aston, Birmingham (1860-1868) is known for his export contract of these M1856/8 sword bayonets to the Confederate States during The US Civil War,

It has standard chequered leather grip plates, and is production three digit numbered 509, {Confederate bayonets are often recognised as bearing four digit engraved, or, three or four number stamped serial numbers, } and it also bears Confederate regimental stamp number, '10' on the pommel top, with a good working spring catch, and usual wear on the grips, the overall condition is very good,

In 1861 Chavasse & Co, produced the 1853 Enfield socket bayonet, and sword bayonets
under contract with no British government markings or stampings to link with British government indicating that all the bayonets were made for export to America for the American Civil War Confederate States. The company was used because of its manufacturing abilities and its connections and successes in sales in the foreign market, markings on bayonet rear pommel of the hilt and blade ricasso of the sword bayonet. The mark of "CHAVASSE & Co" or 'Chavasse'. Total manufactured 11,173 of the bayonets.

It also details in the records that the 1853 and 1856 Enfield pattern rifle’s socket and sword-bayonet batches, sent to American Confederate States, did not have any British government stamps or markings.
All the above details are from their company records, and the company was based at the Crocodile Works Alma Street, Ashton Newton, Birmingham, England from 1860 to 1869

Chavasse supplied his sword-bayonets and socket bayonets from early on during the Civil War, and it was through this that he became acquainted with William Joshua Grazebrook. Their partnership was formalised in early 1862, and the pair brought a large amount of military weapons to sell to the Confederacy. Their attempt at blockade running was disastrous however, as well as financially ruinous, as the ship, the ill fated Modern Greece was wrecked off of Wilmington, North Carolina in June 1862.

Although some damaged cargo was salvaged by Confederate authorities and sold at auction, Chavasse would not receive any money from the cargo, and his partner, Grazebrook, would soon declare bankruptcy in June of 1863 after the capture of the Dolphin and Nicolai I in March of that year.

Chavasse would continue legal action against Grazebrook to no avail, as the courts determined that Grazebrook was insolvent in 1865. The financial ruin brought on by his support of the Confederacy would cause Chavasse himself to declare bankruptcy in 1868. He died virtually penniless in 1917 at the age of 87.

No scabbard, as is more usual than not for surviving sword-bayonets by Chevasse  read more

Code: 26287

850.00 GBP

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A pistol made in bronze, many hundreds of years ago, to fire off for the entertainment of the nobility and their children. Dark blue-black bronze aged patination. No moving parts.

An extraordinary little piece of rarely known history, from the earliest age of the black powder pistol. These intriguing miniature functioning pistols were called petronel, named after the original early name of matchlock and wheellock pistols, and very much of the period, from the Elizabethan to the Carolean age. we show in the gallery an Elizabethen portrait of Captain Thomas Lee by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, with a full sized pistol of the age, that this miniature represents {clearly in its most simplistic form}

A petronel is a 16th and 17th century black powder muzzle-loading firearm, defined by Robert Barret (Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres, 1598) as a horsemans peece. It was the muzzle-loading firearm which developed on the one hand into the pistol and on the other into the carbine. The name (French petrinel or poitrinal) was given to the weapon either because it was fired with the butt resting against the chest (French poitrine, Latin pectus) or it was carried slung from a belt across the chest. Petronels are found with either matchlock or wheellock mechanisms.

The sclopus was the prototype of the petronel. The petronel is a compromise between the harquebus and the pistol. Early petronels date back to the end of the 14th century, with a crude buttstock. Generally the touch hole is on the right side, and fired by a separate slow match. Sometimes they had small hinged plate covers to protect the priming from moisture. By extension, the term petronel was also used to describe the type of light cavalry who employed the firearm. The petronel (cavalryman) was used to support the heavy cavalry such as demi-lancers and cuirassiers. The petronel was succeeded by a similarly armed cavalryman called the harquebusier.


We acquired a stunning little collection of miniature petronel, effectively toys, and they are the Zenith of original, and historical conversation pieces, especially when one considers they are around 450 year old working pistols. Naturally they were not made with the action mechanism of a full sized petronel, one just ignited them with a smouldering match cord, to create an instantaneous small bang and puff of smoke.
Please note, under no circumstances should one try to use them today.  read more

Code: 26288

290.00 GBP

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Up to 1000 years old or later, a carved stone ancient British corbel, weighing almost 55 pounds, from such as a Norman church, monastery or even castle. It is a fabulous carved head of a the grimacing first man, Adam, he from the Garden of Eden, as told in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. His face likely revealing his regret of his being cast out by God, with his wife Eve, to face the misery of life after leaving God’s paradise, after succumbing to the serpents temptation via Eve. No doubt an allegory of the warning of the consequence that awaits those that fail in their devotion and duty. Interestingly it is one of the great historic myths that it was an apple tree within which the serpent appeared, with his poisonous apple, but there is no mention of an apple or apple tree at all in the tale. It was simply the fruit of the forbidden tree that bore peri, which just means fruit, of no particular or defined kind. It could just have easily been a peach, or even a kumquat.

The tradition of using carved stone corbels perhaps derives from stone vaults, although their ribs normally rise from capitals on wall shafts and these are usually foliate or moulded. However, Romanesque churches had external corbels below the eaves which have their architectural origins in classical brackets (and before that, the ends of roof timbers). Although most frequently carved as human heads, they could be animals, figures or grotesques. Explaining the relative lack of external decoration of churches in comparison with their interiors, William Durandus {who died in Rome in 1296 wrote: ‘for although its outward appearance be despicable, the soul which is the seat of God is illuminated from within’. It has therefore been taken that the grotesques and gargoyles seen on church exteriors are there to defend the building (heaven) and those within it from ever-present evil by fighting the Devil with his own. While literacy increased in the Middle Ages, the great majority of people entering a church would not have been able to read (and in any case, any script was most likely to be in Latin before the 16th century). Medieval people certainly recognised many more scenes from the Bible than modern churchgoers, but there were plenty of other sources of inspiration for painted and carved decoration. Hagiographical stories were widely used to convey Christian messages of morality and duty, yet the stories that concluded in considerably less than perfection also convey the consequences of failing to abide by such positive devotions. Thus in this case Adam started as the ideal of hagiographical perfection, at least in God’s eyes, but faced the painful reality after falling from God’s grace and his expulsion from paradise.

After the Norman Invasion of 1066.
William was quick to bring in Norman nobles, administrators and clerics to run this new section of his Norman empire, and, in fact, he soon left to return to pressing business in Normandy, leaving instructions as he sailed back across the English Channel, returning only when he needed to lead his armies against rebellion.
Most notably this included the Harrying of the North in 1069-70 with the Domesday Book, written some 16 years later, still recording that many villages across the northern counties were ‘laid waste.’ Such was the shocking power and devastation of the occupying Norman force.

At the heart of these plans was Feudalism that, in essence, demanded the domination of the Anglo-Saxon population, both high born and low. But given that the invading force never numbered more than some 10,000 Normans, help would be needed to achieve the subjugation demanded by the new king.
As a result, Odo ordered, on the new king’s instructions, a massive castle building programme, using the famous Norman motte and bailey plans that were so well copied in other parts of the world soon after.
These Norman castles were quickly built by masons and engineers brought in from Normandy, who worked on individual projects up and down the country under the watchful eye of the Master Mason. In general, there would be 2 types of masons who worked under him, the hewers, who carved the stones, and the layers, who placed the stones in to the building.
All of this, of course, was paid for by draconian taxes extracted from the local population. Taxes and tax collection, after all, lay at the heart of why the Domesday Book of 1086 was commissioned and why the surveyors sent out to every English town and village were ordered to be so thorough.
But alongside this huge Norman castle building programme, a huge mirror programme of cathedral building was also put in place, with 15 new Norman masterpieces put up in the next 90 years or so. Of these, 13 still remain, with only 2 lost to us: Old St Paul’s, burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and Old Sarum, soon replaced by Salisbury Cathedral, pulled down in the reign of Richard the Lionheart.


Photos in the gallery from the Norman church of Saint Mary and Saint David in Kilpeck, Herefordshire, England. It shows one of the well-preserved carved corbels supporting the roof, depicting a hound and a hare, in a delightful style of cartoon-like simplicity. Carved during the mid 12th century AD (late Norman period) by an unknown sculptor of the "Herefordshire School". (Photo by Simon Garbutt).

Another corbel from the Norman Kilpeck Church by Andy Dolman Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Four corbels by Ciaran Byrne

13.5 inches high, approx, 55 pounds weight

THE LANES ARMOURY, THE PREMIER HOME OF ORIGINAL AND AFFORDABLE ANCIENT ANTIQUITIES , MILITARY ARMOURY ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES IN BRITAIN

Every single item from The Lanes Armoury, Britain's most famous, favourite, and oldest original Armoury Antique store, 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, and thus, it is a lifetime guarantee.  read more

Code: 25806

4950.00 GBP

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A very good example of the helmet plate used on the Home Service and tropical sun helmets used by all the foot regiments of the British Army in the late 19th century. In excellent condition.

In 1881, the British Army standardized its headgear by rolling out the Home Service Helmet across most line infantry and corps. Also known as the Foreign Service Helmet or pith helmet, this headdress was characterized by its cork core, cloth covering, and distinctive brass or silver fittings.Key details surrounding the 1881 Home Service Helmet
The helmet was constructed of stiff cork covered with blue cloth (or sometimes green/grey for specific light infantry and rifle regiments). The fittings varied by branch and rank; officers used gilt or silver-plated insignia, while other ranks used brass.The 1881 Childers Reforms: This specific year is historically significant because the Childers Reforms amalgamated numbered regiments into localized territorial regiments. As a result, the large, star-shaped helmet plates mounted on the front of the headdresses were heavily updated to reflect the new regional and amalgamated titles.
Helmets were topped with either a fluted metal spike (for infantry) or a "ball in a leaf cup" device (for artillery, engineers, and specific service corps).
While originally intended as a universal field and dress headdress, the introduction of khaki during the 1903 uniform updates restricted this helmet to pure Full Dress. It was phased out for field operations and eventually limited to specific ceremonial duties  read more

Code: 26286

145.00 GBP

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Superbly polished with perfect surface. On a composition gilt stand. Showing incredible optical views and imagery. Incredibly it is like staring into our galaxy, the Milky Way itself yet with a notational movement of a mere fraction, it is interspersed with rainbows

A late 18th-century rock quartz crystal ball is a remarkably rare historical artifact. Authentic pieces from this era are highly prized for their clarity and historical significance, often linked to the Victorian revival of scrying or early, natural specimens cut from deep-earth quartz. Genuine antique crystal balls were painstakingly crafted by cutting large chunks of natural quartz rock—such as those historically mined in Burma or Brazil—against the grain using abrasive sand and water, before being laboriously hand-polished. Genuine late-1700s natural quartz spheres almost always contain internal veils, wisps, and tiny fissures.

In ancient times, quartz was fashioned into beads or used to make talismans. It was used by the inhabitants of Mesopotamia roughly 7000 years BC and, more recently, by the ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations who followed. There was a belief that quartz was actually composed of super-cooled ice which had hardened, given its clear, transparent appearance.

Quartz was an important crystal to the Gaels, the ancient tribes which became the Irish. In the Irish language, quartz is known as ‘Grianchloch’ (sunstone) and was used extensively across Europe for passage tombs, such as the famous prehistoric monument at Newgrange or Carrowmore, Ireland. The outer wall at Newgrange is covered with a finishing layer of white quartz.

Unlike the typical crystal ball used by a magician or fortune teller, the largest crystal ball weighs 106.75 pounds, is 12.9 inches in diameter, and is 242,323 carats. It is the largest flawless quartz sphere in the world. The quartz was cut and polished in China sometime between 1923 and 1924 before arriving at the Smithsonian in 1930. Because of its spherical shape, the crystal ball makes the room appear upside-down.

It is on display in the Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Rock crystal spheres of this large size are rare. The largest, at around 32.8 cm., is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian sphere was reportedly fashioned by Chinese lapidaries in Shanghai between 1920-1924, from a half-ton block of Burmese rock crystal. The second largest sphere is believed to be one in the collection of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology (accession no. C681A) measuring 25.4 cm. in diameter. It is said to have been made for the Empress Dowager Cixi (1836-1908) and was one of her prized posessions. Another slightly larger sphere, balanced on a wave stand very similar to the present stand, is in the collection of the Philadelphia Art Museum (accession no. 1944-20-2a,b).

The current sphere, like those above, was made entirely by hand in a laborious process. The final hand polishing, using finely powdered iron oxide, gave these spheres a luster rarely achieved using modern gem-polishing machinery.
Rock crystal carvings have long been prized by the Chinese, warranting a dedicated discussion chapter in collecting guides, such as the late Ming aesthete Zhang Yingwen's Pure and Arcane Collecting. Rock crystal symbolizes purity and perfection, while the sphere represents completeness and the infinity of space.

Antique carved Rock Crystal Quartz Witch's 'crystal ball', also known as a scrying ball, the crystal ball was used by gazing into their centre, for the divination of the future, and the answering of questions. As well as the warding off of evil spirits and misfortune. A fascinating treasure - of great artistic quality

Witch balls were found in England in the 1600 and 1700s originally to ward off evil spirits and spells. By the 1800s witch balls crossed the Atlantic to New England. They also spread to other parts of Europe, being found in Italy, France, and Constantinople. The witch ball originated among cultures where harmful magic and those who practiced it were feared. They are one of many folk practices involving objects for protecting the household. The word witch ball may be a corruption of watch ball because it was used to ward off, guard against, evil spirits. They may be hung in an eastern window, placed on top of a vase, or for the very wealthy set upon a decorative gold stand, either pedestal, or figural, or suspended by a cord (as from the mantelpiece or rafters). They may also be placed on sticks in windows or hung in rooms where inhabitants wanted to ward off evil.

Superstitious European sailors valued the talismanic powers of the witch balls in protecting their homes. Witch balls appeared in America in the 19th century and larger, more opaque variations are often found in gardens under the name gazing ball. This name derives from their being used for divination and scrying where a person gazes into them dreamily to try to see future events or to see the answers to questions. However, gazing balls contain no strands within their interior. The witch ball holds great superstition with regard to warding off evil spirits in our particular English counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The tradition was also taken to overseas British colonies, such as the former British colonies of New England, and remains popular in coastal regions. Apparently, our Hawkins forebears ship’s that sailed across to the New World in the 1600’s, for both trade, emigres, and pilgrims, would carry at least one witch ball hung within a net on board. Our paternal grandmother hung one such in a net from her home’s East window all her life until her death in the 1980’s.

The history of the crystal ball as a device can be traced as far back as to the Medieval Period in central Europe (between 500 – 1500 AD) and in Scandinavia (1050 – 1500 AD). The very ancient art of using reflective surfaces in divination is called scrying and is almost as old as man himself. Queen Elizabeth I consulted Dr John Dee, philosopher, mathematician and alchemist for advice in government and a smoky quartz ball that belonged to Dee is now in the British Museum. Any antique crystal spheres are very desirable especially if a well-known reader has used them. This is the best one we have ever seen quite simply and it must have belonged to someone who took their craft incredibly seriously as it would have been tremendously expensive to make at the time.

Occultism, a group of esoteric religious traditions emerging primarily from 19th-century Europe. In particular, the term occultism is associated with the ideas of the French Kabbalist and ceremonial magician Éliphas Lévi as well as the various figures, both in France and abroad, who were strongly influenced by his writings. In the academic study of esotericism, the term is often used in a broader sense to characterize all esoteric traditions that have adapted to an increasingly secular, globalized, and scientific world, including Spiritualism, Spiritism, Wicca, and the New Age milieu.
History
The term occultism derives from occult, itself adopted from the Latin word occultus, meaning “hidden” or “secret.” In medieval and early modern Europe this term had been used in reference to “occult properties,” or forces that, even if invisible to the human eye, were believed to exist within material objects. In the 16th century the term occult gained additional meanings, coming to also describe specific traditions of thought, usually called “occult sciences” or “occult philosophies.” Among the traditions repeatedly labeled under these terms were alchemy, astrology, and magia naturalis (“natural magic”), all of which are now typically regarded as forms of esotericism.
The earliest known use of the term occultism comes from French, where l’occultisme appears in Jean-Baptiste Richard’s 1842 work Enrichissement de la langue française (“Enrichment of the French Language”). The word’s popularization nevertheless results largely from its use by Alphonse Louis Constant, a French author who published a series of books under the pseudonym Éliphas Lévi in the 1850s and ’60s. Sometimes referred to as the “founder of occultism,” Lévi was a committed Roman Catholic and socialist interested in many older esoteric traditions, including ceremonial magic, Kabbalah, and the use of the tarot. In his writings, most notably his highly influential Dogme et rituel de la haute magie (The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic; 1854–1856), he wrote about a purported ancient and universal tradition of spiritual wisdom, the knowledge of which could help bridge the modern divide between science and religion. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of the influential French figures who were inspired by Lévi—including Stanislas de Guaita, Joséphin Péladan, and Papus—also went on to describe their beliefs and practices as occultisme.
Scrying, also referred to as "seeing" or "peeping," is a practice rooted in divination and fortune-telling. It involves gazing into a medium, hoping to receive significant messages or visions that could offer personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, or inspiration

Scrying has been practiced in many cultures in the belief that it can reveal the past, present, or future. Some practitioners assert that visions that come when one stares into the media are from the subconscious or imagination, while others say that they come from gods, spirits, devils, or the psychic mind, depending on the culture and practice. There is neither any systematic body of empirical support for any such views in general however, nor for their respective rival merits; individual preferences in such matters are arbitrary

Undoubtedly, Nostradamus is the most recognized of scryers. In the sixteenth century, in ancient France, he was an astrologer and physician. He wrote in poetic quatrains which referenced future events. In his day, working as a magician conflicted with the law. His predictions were veiled to allow him to fly under the radar in that sense.

The Crystal Ball is a painting by John William Waterhouse completed in 1902. Waterhouse displayed both it and The Missal in the Royal Academy of 1902. The painting shows the influence of the Italian Renaissance with vertical and horizontal lines, along with circles "rather than the pointed arches of the Gothic".

Another painting in the gallery. Part of a private collection, the painting, by Pieter Claesz circa 1628, Still Life with Crystal Ball which depicts a crystal ball, a wand, a book of ceremonial magic, and a woman "weaving a spell", has been restored to show the skull which had been covered by a previous owner.

Yet another painting is Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' Circa 1500, of Jesus Christ bearing a crystal ball in his left hand.


5 1/2 inches, 140mm  read more

Code: 26284

2450.00 GBP

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