Antique Arms & Militaria

1st 2nd Century Romano British Ellipsoid Glass Ring Mount Depicting the Impressed Head of the Sky God of Thunder Taranis {Roman,Jupiter} or Mithras {Roman, Mars} Of the East of England Mithraic Cult. From the Era of 'King' Caratacus

For a man of high status in Romano-British life, a status ring insert of the portrait bust of Taranis or Mithras, with his distinctive bearded profile. He was often found on Romano British brooches, discovered in archaeological digs in Britain, mounted upon his horse. This portrait could have once been set within a ring or a neck pendant. Naturally it could be set once more into a ring mount for current wear.

The wearing of an image of a god or goddess to ward off the evil eye can be traced back to Ancient Greece and the wearing of an image of the Gorgon or Medusa upon a ring or pendant. This practice travelled to Rome and indeed to Roman Britain

Archaeologist Michael Green says, ‘The enamelled brooch is a well-known type from the Catuvellaunian territory. It refers to the Mounted Sky God, whose Romano-Celtic name was probably Taranis {with his distinctive bearded profile}. He survived in local folk lore as Hiccafrith. The local war god was probably Camulos, after whom the Trinovantian capital of Camulodunum was named, at Colchester.’
Quite a few of horse and rider brooches depicting the Sky God Teranis or Mithras, have been found in the East of England, Ipswich, Thetford and one in Lincoln very similar to this portrait bust example, found near Ermine Street along which Roman cavalry travelled bound for Hadrian’s Wall. Two mounted, armed riders were also found as part of a hoard in Willingham Fen, Cambs (now in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology).

The Catuvellauni were a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century.

The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through ancient coins and scattered references in classical histories. They are mentioned by Cassius Dio, who implies that they led the resistance against the conquest in AD 43. They appear as one of the civitates of Roman Britain in Ptolemy's Geography in the 2nd century, occupying the town of Verlamion (modern St Albans) and the surrounding areas of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and southern Cambridgeshire.

Their territory was bordered to the north by the Iceni and Corieltauvi, to the east by the Trinovantes, to the west by the Dobunni and Atrebates, and to the south by the Regni and Cantiaci.

Caratacus is named by Dio Cassius as a son of the Catuvellaunian king Cunobelinus. Based on coin distribution Caratacus appears to have been the protégé of his uncle Epaticcus, who expanded Catuvellaunian power westwards most likely from his palace in Verulam, the heartland of the Catuvellauni, into the territory of the Atrebates. After Epaticcus died in about AD 35, the Atrebates, under Verica, regained some of their territory, but it appears Caratacus completed the conquest, as Dio tells us Verica was ousted, fled to Rome and appealed to the emperor Claudius for help. This was the excuse used by Claudius to launch his invasion of Britain in the summer of 43. The invasion targeted Caratacus' stronghold of Camulodunon (modern Colchester), previously the seat of his father Cunobelinus. Cunobelinus had died some time before the invasion. Caratacus and his brother Togodumnus led the initial defence of the country against Aulus Plautius's four legions, thought to have been around 40,000 men, primarily using guerrilla tactics. They lost much of the south-east after being defeated in two crucial battles, the Battle of the River Medway and River Thames. Togodumnus was killed (although both Miles Russell and John Hind argue that Dio was mistaken in reporting Togodumnus's death, that he was defeated but survived, and was later appointed by the Romans as a friendly king over a number of territories, becoming the loyal king referred to by Tacitus as Cogidubnus or Togidubnus) and the Catuvellauni's territories were conquered. Their stronghold of Camulodunon was converted into the first Roman colonia in Britain,

One can see the very same profile head upon a Romano-British brooch, from the same period, in the British Museum. It is the god Teranis or Mithras on horseback. Aka as Roman gods, Jupiter or Mars

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1915-1208-119

Size 14mm

Two pictures in the gallery, one a photo of Trajans column of the scene of the Roman Legion standard bearers at the Battle of the River Medway, and a painting of Caratacus and his Brother proceeding to battle the Romans at the River Medway.  read more

Code: 25494

A Most Scarce Early 17th century Jamdhar Katari Dagger From the Mountains of Nepal And the Hindu Kush,

An most early and rare Nepalese dagger classified as the Jamdhar Katari. 17th century, and developed as a fighting weapon in the 17th century. With a thin slightly swollen double edged blade 23.5cms long, painted with red devotional designs (sandlewood oil) on one side, iron hilt with swollen grip and slightly down-turned pommel and guard. Tip lacking. GC
For reference see Egerton Nos. 344 and 345 for similar.

Another very similar Jamdha Katari is in The Met Collection Fifth Ave. New York, [Accession Number:36.25.820] Donated to The Met by the legendary George Cameron Stone [Author of the seminal work A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times, known as 'Stone's Glossary'] in 1935.

It was regarding another most similar example we had, about which Mark Hawkins engaged in a most interesting conversation with the now late US President Ronald Reagan [in the 1970's]. President Reagan displayed a knowledge of this particular weapon, in his conversation with Mark, that was surprisingly extensive and certainly impressive.  read more

Code: 22528

Super 1850's 'Crimean War' Russian Military Officer's Campaign Trunk

A wooden and steel strap banded military officer's campaign trunk from the Crimean war. Painted in faded pale Russian blue-grey. From family history, it was been used by an officer of the 17th Lancers after he acquired it from various kit and officers campaign equipment captured from a Russian baggage train in 1854 around Balaklava. The British officer then used it for his gun case and military kit during his campaign in the crimean, and later by his sons. Campaign furniture is an umbrella term for the portable items of furniture used by the military in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is comprised of a huge number of objects, from chairs to chests, wardrobes to washstands and games tables to camp beds. A number of celebrated British furniture makers created pieces of campaign furniture, elevating it beyond its roots in functional, army-based design to desirable, collectible decor that continues to add a beautiful, innovative touch to homes today. The Crimean War started with Russia's invasion of the Turkish Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (now Romania). Britain and France both wanted to prop up the ailing Ottoman Empire and resist Russian expansionism in the Near East.

Although Russia fought a largely successful war against the Turks in Armenia, and British and French fleets operated in the Baltic Sea, it was the events in the Crimea that had the biggest impact on Britain. In September 1854 the allies landed troops in Russian Crimea, on the north shore of the Black Sea, and began a yearlong siege of the Russian fortress of Sevastopol. Major engagements were fought at the Alma River on September 20, at Balaklava on October 25 (commemorated in ?The Charge of the Light Brigade? by English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson), and at Inkerman on November 5. On January 26, 1855, Sardinia-Piedmont entered the war and sent 10,000 troops. Finally, on September 11, 1855, three days after a successful French assault on the Malakhov, a major strongpoint in the Russian defenses, the Russians blew up the forts, sank the ships, and evacuated Sevastopol. Secondary operations of the war were conducted in the Caucasus and in the Baltic Sea. The last picture shows the bottom rear strap loops for mounting the trunk on the rear of a horse drawn baggage coach. 13 inches deep x 21.5 inches wide x 11.5 inches high.  read more

Code: 22604

An Incredible & Substantially Formidable, Around 1,100 Year Old Viking War-Hammer-Axe. An Impressive, Beautiful, and Most Powerful War Axe and Hammer, Combined.

In superb condition for it's age, and stunningly conserved. The front has a fine blade, with the reverse made into a flat, helmet smashing hammer. For combat, as a middle-heavyweight axe, it could have been mounted with a single or double handed haft. In a discussion on axes from the medeavil age we had together with Howard Blackmore {deputy curator at the Tower}, and Dennis Ottrey {our former gun and armour smith of over 40 years} the service of the war axe in hand to hand combat was critical in all the major battles for over a millennia. The lighter wide bladed axe, perfect for deep slicing and cutting, the heavy axe, for smashing and crushing, but often the most formidable, like the hand and a half sword in the world of long edged weapons, aka the bastard sword, the middle weight axe was the most functional. At home set in either a single handed short or two handed long haft, it was almost ideal for all purposes, and like the ‘bastard’ sword, it was perfect {in the right hands} for all fighting conditions. The hand-and-a-half sword was known as the ‘bastard’ sword because in trained hands it was far more powerful than the shorter, knightly cruciform sword, and much faster than the considerably longer zweihander {two handed} sword. Thus the middle-heavyweight axe could well have been classified as the ‘bastard’ axe. Although in hand-to-hand combat the only ideal defence against the war axe was the shield {or, possibly, superior agility} not another axe, unlike sword-to-sword combat, where the best defence against the sword, was another sword.

Knowledge about the arms and armour of the Viking age is based on archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and Norse laws recorded in the 13th century. According to custom, all free Norse men were required to own weapons and were permitted to carry them all the time. These arms were indicative of a Viking's social status: a wealthy Viking had a complete ensemble of a helmet, shield, mail shirt, and sword. However, swords were rarely used in battle in the same quantity as axes, as few Vikings were of the status to own or carry a sword, A typical bondi (freeman) was more likely to fight with a spear, axe, with shield and most also carried a seax as a utility knife and side-arm. Bows were used in the opening stages of land battles and at sea, but they tended to be considered less "honourable" than a melee weapon.

The warfare and violence of the Vikings were often motivated and fuelled by their beliefs in Norse religion, focusing on Thor and Odin, the gods of war and death. In combat, it is believed that the Vikings sometimes engaged in a disordered style of frenetic, furious fighting known as berserkergang, leading them to be termed berserkers. Such tactics may have been deployed intentionally by shock troops, and the berserk-state may have been induced through ingestion of materials with psychoactive properties, such as the hallucinogenic mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, or large amounts of alcohol. Perhaps the most common hand weapon among Vikings was the axe swords were more expensive to make and only wealthy warriors could afford them. The prevalence of axes in archaeological sites can likely be attributed to its role as not just a weapon, but also a common tool. This is supported by the large number of grave sites of female Scandinavians containing axes. Several types of larger axes specialized for use in battle evolved, with larger heads and longer shafts.

Vikings most commonly carried sturdy axes that could be thrown or swung with head-splitting force. The Mammen Axe is a famous example of such battle-axes, ideally suited for throwing and melee combat.
An axe head was mostly wrought iron, possibly with a steel cutting edge. This made the weapon less expensive than a sword, and was a standard item produced by blacksmiths, historically.

Like most other Scandinavian weaponry, axes were often given names. According to Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, axes were often named after she-trolls. A bearded 10th century Viking battle axe that could double as a throwing axe from the time of the last Viking, English King, Eric Bloodaxe, King of Northumbria. Probably the eldest son of King Harald Finehair The first King of all Norway. Eric's name probably derives from the legend that he murdered most of his 20 brothers, excepting Hakon. This was an unfortunate error as, upon Haralds death, Hakon returned to Norway from Britain to claim Harald's throne, and removed Eric from his Kingship. His elder brother Eric then fled Norway to Britain and to King Athelstan, an old friend of his father's, whereupon he took the Kingdom of Northumbria in around 947 a.d. While the sagas call him 'Bloodaxe', one of the Latin texts calls him fratris interfector (brother-killer), but, for whatever reason his name was derived, it was certainly a fine example of the descriptive titles the Viking warriors had, and that we are told of in the Viking sagas.


Weighing just under 2.5 pounds, 6.75 inches x 2.75 inches  read more

Code: 25472

A Beautiful, Large & Most Fabulous Original Antique Ching Dynasty 'Rose Medallion' Canton Export Porcelain Lamp

An absolutely stunning and beautiful quality original Chinese export antique lamp, Qing Dynasty {Ching} circa 1830, with the body of a fine large size antique Cantonese porcelain vase, in rose medallion pattern with its lacquered highly decorative pierced brass oil lamp mountings, created and assembled in Paris in the 1830's. Later converted to electricity.

A large piece that could be categorised as a centre piece, most surviving antique Canton export lamps are the smaller size side lamps, but this is a statement piece of superb presence. The decoration centres around six dominant panels. On one side there are two panels with scenes of high status mandarins and courtiers above another over a panel decorated with birds and butterflies. The other side a central panel decorated with birds between two panels of people. Antique Chinese export porcelain is now become incredibly desirable and highly valuable due to the ever rising and powerful, so called Tiger Economy, of China. Rare antique Chinese porcelain is now attracting values of 10 to 100 times the prices achieved for them just 30 years ago or so. 'Canton' porcelains are fine Chinese ceramic wares made for export in the 18th to the 20th centuries, this is a piece from the earlier part of that period in the Ching Qing dynasty.

The wares were made, glazed and fired at Jingdezhen but decorated with enamels at Canton (Guangzhou) in southern China prior to export by sea through that port. Canton was a large, densely populated Chinese city. Most of the buildings in this ca. 1800 view in our gallery are two- or three-story buildings used both as residences and shops. The pagoda and five-story watchtower rise above the city, surrounded by the mountains where country estates and guard houses were located. Prominently featured in the foreground, with foreign flags, the area to which foreigners were confined was a tiny district of several acres on the banks of the river, where thousands of boats collected for trade. Many cities along China's southern coast had created foreign quarters for much earlier generations of Indian and Middle Eastern traders. The Westerners were just the latest arrivals. During the passage from Macau up the Pearl River foreigners passed through densely populated agricultural lands and market towns, but they never saw a major city until they reached Guangzhou. We call the trading system that lasted from 1700 to 1842 on China's south coast the Canton system because of this city's dominance. Guangzhou (which Europeans called Canton), an ancient city and one of the largest in South China, had flourished as an administrative and trading centre for over 1000 years before the Westerners arrived. Arab and Persian traders had lived in its foreign quarters under the Tang dynasty since the 8th century. Like most traditional Chinese cities, Canton had a large wall surrounding the central districts, major avenues within the wall, extensive market districts outside the wall, and constant contact by riverboats with the surrounding countryside and distant ports. 25 inches high not including light fitting 33 inches high with shade. The shade is around 50 years old, made of silk, but its condition is now most poor and shown for display purposes only, for use today a new example should be considered  read more

Code: 22231

A Very Good & Fine Original Medieval 'Crusader' Knight's Bronze Battle Mace & Scorpion Flail Mace Head Circa 12th Century. Around 900 Years Old, In Superb Condition and With Excellent Natural Age Patination

Made of Bronze Copper Alloy. A weapon made at the time at great cost, and only for the most affluent knight, a battle mace for the crushing and smashing of armour. The mace head is approx. the width of a pool or billiard ball. This fabulous mace could be mounted upon a haft {pretty much none of the original hafts from that period are now still in existence, being organic they decay very quickly once buried} or the aperture filled with lead and a large hand wrought iron staple, that would then be chained, and further mounted upon a short wooden haft to use as a flail mace.
Although no original early mace heads, in reality, were that large, they were heavy and powerful enough, combined with the impetus of a powerful swing, to be incredibly and dramatically effective at smashing through armour, and even iron plate helmets.

This bronze mace was made and used in the era of the first, through to all the knightly crusades to the Holy Land to reclaim Jerusalem.

The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that had the objective of reconquering Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule after the region had been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate centuries earlier. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century.

In 1095, after a Byzantine request for aid, Pope Urban II proclaimed the first expedition at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos and called for an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Across all social strata in Western Europe, there was an enthusiastic response. Participants came from all over Europe and had a variety of motivations. These included religious salvation, satisfying feudal obligations, opportunities for renown, and economic or political advantage. Later expeditions were conducted by generally more organised armies, sometimes led by a king. All were granted papal indulgences. Initial successes established four Crusader states: the County of Edessa; the Principality of Antioch; the Kingdom of Jerusalem; and the County of Tripoli. A European presence remained in the region in some form until the fall of Acre in 1291. After this, no further large military campaigns were organised.  read more

Code: 25454

A Superb Queen Anne, Early 18th Century Bone Topped Walking Dandy Cane

It is a delight to get such an early example of a fine English 'Dandy' cane, it has a wonderful carved bone top with intermittent baleen inserts, and a fine grain hardwood haft. Every other portrait of a Georgian, Victorian, or Edwardian gentleman, shows some nattily dressed fellow with a walking stick pegged jauntily into the ground or a slim baton negligently tucked under the elbow. The dress cane was the quintessential mark of the dandy for three centuries, part fashion accessory, part aid to communication, part weapon, and of course, a walking aid. A dandy, historically, is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of self. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle despite coming from a middle-class background, especially in late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain.

Previous manifestations of the petit-maitre (French for "small master") and the Muscadin have been noted by John C. Prevost, but the modern practice of dandyism first appeared in the revolutionary 1790s, both in London and in Paris. The dandy cultivated cynical reserve, yet to such extremes that novelist George Meredith, himself no dandy, once defined cynicism as "intellectual dandyism". Some took a more benign view; Thomas Carlyle wrote in Sartor Resartus that a dandy was no more than "a clothes-wearing man". Honore De Balzac introduced the perfectly worldly and unmoved Henri de Marsay in La fille aux yeux d'or (1835), a part of La Comedie Humaine, who fulfils at first the model of a perfect dandy, until an obsessive love-pursuit unravels him in passionate and murderous jealousy.

Charles Baudelaire defined the dandy, in the later "metaphysical" phase of dandyism, as one who elevates esthetics to a living religion, that the dandy's mere existence reproaches the responsible citizen of the middle class: "Dandyism in certain respects comes close to spirituality and to stoicism" and "These beings have no other status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons, of satisfying their passions, of feeling and thinking Dandyism is a form of Romanticism. Contrary to what many thoughtless people seem to believe, dandyism is not even an excessive delight in clothes and material elegance. For the perfect dandy, these things are no more than the symbol of the aristocratic superiority of mind."

The linkage of clothing with political protest had become a particularly English characteristic during the 18th century. Given these connotations, dandyism can be seen as a political protest against the levelling effect of egalitarian principles, often including nostalgic adherence to feudal or pre-industrial values, such as the ideals of "the perfect gentleman" or "the autonomous aristocrat". Paradoxically, the dandy required an audience, as Susann Schmid observed in examining the "successfully marketed lives" of Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron, who exemplify the dandy's roles in the public sphere, both as writers and as personae providing sources of gossip and scandal. Nigel Rodgers in The Dandy: Peacock or Enigma? Questions Wilde's status as a genuine dandy, seeing him as someone who only assumed a dandified stance in passing, not a man dedicated to the exacting ideals of dandyism. With a small repair at the replaced brass ferrule.  read more

Code: 16579

18th Century Ching Dynasty Chinese Matchlock Musket Powder Flask. Qianlong {aka Chien-lung} Period

Leather covered wood with iron spout. Wooden slide at the base of the spout for opening and closing the flask to release. Very scarce to find, somewhat crude in its manufacture but typical of the time and the region within which it was used in the North West province of China and the mountains of Tibet. Somewhat similar to examples from the old Ottoman Empire, but their versions tended to have leather tooling decor. How or why the two regional types were so similar is unknown, although possibly via the *Silk Road route. Which had been the origin of trade between the East and the West for almost 2000 years

Qianlong {aka Chien lung period}, used until the Boxer Rebellion. Most likely brought back to England by a British soldier that either served in the Opium War, or defended the legations at the siege in Peking.

China pioneered the use of gunpowder for fireworks and artillery in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Sophisticated firearms technology, however, developed more rapidly in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and was then introduced into China by merchants, diplomats, and missionaries during the seventeenth century. Improved designs for cannons and practical types of hand-held guns were eagerly promoted and officially adopted as regulation military equipment under the Qing emperors Kangxi (reigned 1662–1722) and Qianlong (reigned 1736–1795). In addition to mastering the use of bow and arrow and other weapons, both Kangxi and Qianlong owned and used guns, particularly for hunting. This was in keeping with their overall belief in the importance of martial training, which they encouraged by personal example.

Thomas Child spent from 1870 to 1889 in Beijing, and John Thompson traveled in northern China from circa 1869 to 1872. By this time period, observers noticed that soldiers were often equipped with older, antique guns. I tend to date this type to circa 1720 to the 1750’s.

The Qing dynasty (English pronunciation; Ching), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China (1636–1912) and the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history.
It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaking ethnic group who unified other Jurchen tribes to form a new "Manchu" ethnic identity. The dynasty was officially proclaimed in 1636 in Manchuria (modern-day Northeast China and Russian Manchuria). It seized control of Beijing in 1644, then later expanded its rule over the whole of China proper and Taiwan, and finally expanded into Inner Asia. The dynasty lasted until 1912 when it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. In Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multiethnic Qing dynasty lasted for almost three centuries and assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the fourth-largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With 419,264,000 citizens in 1907, it was the most populous country in the world at the time.

*Silk Road, ancient trade route, linking China with the West, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China. Silk went westward, and wools, gold, and silver went east. China also received Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism (from India) via the Silk Road. See image 6 in the gallery. The road inspired cellist Yo-Yo Ma to found the Silk Road Project in 1999, which explored cultural traditions along its route and beyond as a means for connecting arts worldwide across cultures.  read more

Code: 21273

French Very Fine & Most Rare 18th Century Lanthorn Powder-Flask Attributed To Nicolas Noel Boutet

A rare 18th century French flask with a most unusual fold-down nozzle system. With a large, rounded lanthorn body, flattened on the back, with shaped top mount and folding swelling nozzle, reeded brass medial mount, and rings for suspension. For an almost identical example, mounted in silver, see Herbert G. Houze, The Sumptuous Flaske, 1989, pp. 116-117 (illustrated). We also show in the gallery a cased set of the worlds finest flintlock pistols and fowling piece complete with tools and an identical lanthorn flask made by Nicolas Noel Boutet, possibly for Napoleon. This fabulous set is in the Met in New York. We acquired a most similar set, also by Nicolas Noel Boutet, around 50 years ago, that cased set came from a castle in Czechoslovakia, and was commissioned from Boutet for a Prince, that set also had an identical lanthorn flask. Today Iit would likely be approaching a value of a million dollars. Nicolas Noel Boutet was one of the world's greatest gunsmiths, if not The worlds greatest gunsmith, and he made guns for most of the crowned heads of Europe, including Napoleon Bonaparte. He was based at the Imperial Armoury at Versailles. Lanthorn is a transluscent form of ox horn used in the earliest days to make window panes or lanterns. It was the earliest known material for the ingress of light into a room from daylight. In fact the word lantern is a derivative form of lanthorn itself. With lanthorn panes a lantern could be created with a candle to create a portable light and protect the flame from wind. Here are some early instructions as to how it was made; Take the lightest, translucent, hollow portion of an ox or steer horn (these being the thinnest)
Soak this in water for a month
Saw it, split it and press it into plates
Take a short, edge bladed round nosed knive called a "lift" and use it to delaminate the layers (Purportedly up to 12 layers can be gotten from a thick horn).
The Horn may be clarified by coating both sides with tallow, and pressing it between hot irons, thinning it further.
The finished leaves are scraped with steel scrapers, buffed on a polishing wheel, then slightly moistened with vinager and a buffing compound, finally being polished by a buffing compound applied by the palm of the hand (historically the horns were buffed with charcoal and water applied with part of an old beaver hat - the final polish being given by wood ashes applied with the hand). Boutet made several forms of lanthorn flask as its translucent property enable the owner to determine how much powder the flask contained at a glance if held to the light and its resistance to denting was an advantage over copper. A most similar attributed to Boutet flask sold in Butterfield and Butterfield Auction House in San Francisco in 1994 estimated at 1,500 to 2,500 dollars. Minor early crack to the lanthorn body  read more

Code: 22557

Fabulous Solid Silver & Enamel, Cigarette Case of Rudyard Kipling’s, Richard Caton Woodville’s and Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Boer War Soldier’s Relief Fund. ‘The Absent Minded Beggar, A Gentleman in Kharki. By Victorian Silversmiths Saunders & Shepherd

This is a unique, stunning and exceptional antique Victorian sterling silver and enamel cigarette case. Made for one of the principles, possibly one of the main instigators of the Boer War Relief Fund Charity, Kipling, Woodville or Sullivan, or Lord Northcliffe or his brother Lord Rothermere, the publishers of the Daily Mail, a fund raised by an appeal started by The Daily Mail.
It has a rectangular form with rounded corners. Just regular Victorian solid silver and fine enamel cigarette cases are very highly prized, and have been incredibly collectable over the past hundred years, and can achieve incredible prices, but this is one of the rarest and most historical examples, made for one of the most successful charitable causes of the Victorian age, that one can find. This fabulous Victorian case has a subtly curved form proffering a comfortable fit in the majority of pockets. The anterior cover of this Victorian case is embellished with an impressive painted enamel panel depicting a British soldier holding a rifle and standing on a rocky hillside, with a blooded bandage around his head and a helmet to his feet.
The enamel decoration is accented with the quote
A Gentleman in Kharki
Importantly, with the engraved word ‘copyright’ to the lower edge. This was a stipulation that only items made specifically for the relief fund could display, to ensure all receive monies went to the fund.
The posterior surface and rounded sides of this cigarette case are plain.
This silver Victorian cigarette case is fitted with a push fit catch, which when released reveals two hinged compartments.This impressive case retains the original gilded interior and two retaining straps.
It was crafted by the Birmingham silversmiths Cornelius Desormeaux Saunders & James Francis Hollings (Frank) Shepherd.
This notable illustration in enamel on the case front, is a representation of Richard Caton Woodville's ‘A Gentleman in Kharki’. This design accompanied the song/poem The Absent-Minded Beggar by Rudyard Kipling, with music composed by Gilbert & Sullivan’s, Sir Arthur Sullivan, and was used in a press release to raise funds for the British soldier in the Boer

"The Absent-Minded Beggar" is an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling, set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and often accompanied by an illustration of a wounded but defiant British soldier, "A Gentleman in Kharki", by Richard Caton Woodville. The song was written as part of an appeal by the Daily Mail to raise money for soldiers fighting in the Second Boer War and their families. The fund was the first ever such charitable effort for a war.

The chorus of the song exhorted its audience to "pass the hat for your credit's sake, and pay– pay– pay!" The patriotic poem and song caused a sensation and were constantly performed throughout the war and beyond. Kipling was offered a knighthood shortly after publication of the poem but declined the honour. Vast numbers of copies of the poem and sheet music were published, and large quantities of related merchandise were sold to aid the charity. The "Absent-Minded Beggar Fund" was an unprecedented success and raised a total of more than £250,000.

The Daily Chronicle wrote that "It has not been often that the greatest of English writers and the greatest of English musicians have joined inspiring words and stirring melody in a song which expresses the heart feelings of the entire nation". Sullivan's manuscript was later auctioned for £500 towards the fund.

The popularity of the poem was such that allusions to it were common. Mark Twain wrote that "The clarion-peal of its lines thrilled the world". By 18 November, less than a month after publication of the poem, "a new patriotic play" was advertised to open the next week, titled The Absent Minded Beggar, or, For Queen and Country. The same month, the Charity Organisation Society called "The Absent-Minded Beggar" the "most prominent figure on the charitable horizon at present." Even a critical book on the conduct of the war, published in 1900, was titled An Absent-Minded War. Kipling was offered a knighthood within a few weeks of publication of the song but declined, as he declined all offers of State honours. Historian Stephen M. Miller wrote in 2007, "Kipling almost single-handedly restored the strong ties between civilians and soldiers and put Britain and its army back together again."

A performance of "The Absent-Minded Beggar March" on 21 July 1900 at The Crystal Palace was Sullivan's last public appearance, and the composer died four months later. "The Absent-Minded Beggar" remained popular throughout the three-year war and for years after the war ended. It became a part of popular culture of the time, with its title becoming a popular phrase and cartoons, postcards and other humorous representations of the character of the absent-minded beggar becoming popular. The song is performed in John Osborne's 1957 play The Entertainer. T. S. Eliot included the poem in his 1941 collection A Choice of Kipling's Verse.

The picture in the gallery is of Rudyard Kipling in his study. Recognised my millions of people around the world as the English composer of the greatest poem ever written, certainly one of the most popular of all poems. ‘If’

Copy and paste below Sir Micheal Caine reading his favourite poem. ‘If’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqOgyNfHl1U

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
⁠And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
⁠Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
⁠And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

Made by Cornelius Saunders & Francis Shepherd
Hallmarked 1899 made in Birmingham, England. 83mm long, 99.5 grams  read more

Code: 21734