Antique Arms & Militaria

A Very Good Victorian 92nd Gordon Highlanders Silver Cross Belt Badge

92nd Regiment (Gordon) officer's crossbelt badge, silver plated 4 pointed star with St Andrew cross with battle honours, Sphinx below XCII Highlanders, with three threaded screw mounts.

In December 1878, the regiment was ordered to Afghanistan where it was engaged in various security operations following the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. In October 1879, it took part in the Battle of Charasiab, where the regiment captured three hills, thereby turning the enemy's flank. Major George White received the Victoria Cross for his part in this action. A further Victoria Cross was won by Lieutenant William Dick-Cunyngham at the Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment on 13 December 1879. At the end of August 1880, the regiment formed part of the force which marched under General Frederick Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar, and at the Battle of Kandahar on 1 September 1880, formed part of the 1st Brigade, which led the advance in sweeping the enemy out of the closely wooded enclosures along the western slopes of the hill on which the village of Gundi Mullah Sahibdad stood.

Instead of returning to the United Kingdom in 1881, the regiment was diverted to Natal to serve in the First Boer War. The regiment participated in the disastrous Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881. After capturing the hilltop in order to dominate the Boer line, the force of 350 British soldiers of the 58th and 92nd Regiments including a number of Royal Navy gunners, found themselves exposed to heavy and accurate fire early on the following day. This was followed by an assault by 2,000 Boers; despite a desperate last stand, the survivors were swept from the summit.  read more

Code: 16705

A Very Good Steel 'Belted Bullet' Mould Marked 14 and WD (William Davies)

A rare collectable for a 19th century 'two-groove' British rifle, such as the Brunswick. Cavity measures .750" at the bottom of the grooves, with approx .70” ball. This mould casts a spherical ball with bands for two-groove rifling. stamped by maker W.D. William Davies who was one of England's best bullet mould makers in the reign of King George in England, and later during the early part of Victoria's reign. This mould is in excellent plus condition.

The rifle with belted ball two-groove rifling that was at the pinnacle of rifle development in the 1830s and 1840s. With multi-groove rifling it was difficult to ram the ball down particularly if the barrel was fouled up and often a hammer had to be carried to belt down the ramrod.

With a belted ball, a belt was created around the bullet and two corresponding deep grooves were cut in the barrel. The ball was carefully located in these grooves and it could be easily pushed down. Since the two-groove rifling was deep cut, there was no possibility of the bullet stripping and quite high charges could be used. Belted ball rifles tended to be in the bigger calibres as they were too tricky to load in smaller calibres.

Overall length 7.5"  read more

Code: 17356

A Fabulous Original Victorian Woolwork Regimental Crest of the Suffolk Regt

In still highly vividly embroidered colours, and superbly executed with great skill. Bearing the regiments crest surmounted with Queen Victoria's crown, with a scrolls of the regiments battle honours, from Dettingen up to the South African Wars against the Boers. Very unusually is it surmounted with a Union Flag and a Moon and Crescent flag of Egypt. In a gesso mounted gilt wooden framed. Members of the Suffolks were based in Egypt from - 17 December, 1889 - to 10 February, 1891. The 1st Battalion served in the Second Boer War: it assaulted a hill near Colesberg in January 1900 and suffered many casualties including the commanding officer.
Between 1895 and 1914, the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was stationed for the majority of the time in India. Garrison postings during this period include; Secunderabad (India) 1895, Rangoon and the Andaman Islands (Burma) 1896 to 1899, Quetta (North West Frontier) 1899 to 1902, Karachi and Hyderabad (Northern India, now Pakistan) 1902 to 1905, Madras (India) 1905 to 1907, Aden 1907, returning to England in 1908.

During its service in India the 2nd Battalion became known as a "well officered battalion that compared favourably with the best battalion in the service having the nicest possible feeling amongst all ranks". The 2nd was also regarded as a good shooting battalion with high level of musketry skills.

The spirit of independence and self-reliance exhibited by officers and non-commissioned officers led to the 2nd Battalion taking first place in the Quetta Division of the British Army of India, from a military effectiveness point of view, in a six-day test. This test saw the men under arms for over 12 hours a day conducting a wide selection of military manoeuvres, including bridge building, retreats under fire, forced marches and defending ground and fixed fortifications.
The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 84th Brigade in the 28th Division in January 1915 for service on the Western Front and then transferred to Egypt in 24 October 1915.[30] It suffered some 400 casualties at the Second Battle of Ypres in May 1915.

The 2nd Battalion landed at landed at Le Havre as part of the 14th Brigade in the 5th Division in August 1914. The value of the 2nd Battalion's 20 years of peacetime training was exemplified at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914, a mere 23 days since Britain had declared war on Germany. In this action the 2nd Battalion undertook a fierce rear-guard defence out-manned and out-gunned by superior numbers of enemy. The 2nd Battalion held their defensive position despite losing their commanding officer, Lt. Col. C.A.H. Brett DSO, at the commencement of the action and their second in command, Maj. E.C. Doughty, who was severely wounded after six hours of battle as he went forward to take ammunition to the hard-pressed battalion machine gunners.

Almost totally decimated as a fighting unit after over eight hours of incessant fighting, the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was gradually outflanked but would still not surrender. This was despite the fact that the German Army, knowing the 2nd Battalion had no hope of survival, entreated them to surrender, even ordering the German buglers to sound the British Cease Fire and gesticulating for the men of the 2nd to lay down their arms. At length an overwhelming force rushed the 2nd Battalion from the rear, bringing down all resistance and the 2nd's defence of Le Cateau was at an end. Those remaining alive were taken captive by the Germans, spending the next four years as prisoners of war and not returning home until Christmas Day 1918  read more

Code: 21639

A Scarce Volunteer Artillery Officers- Busby Plume Holder Badge circa 1860 to 1873.

A rare and most collectable silver badge from the mid Victorian period. Now naturally silver age blackened but it would polish up beautifully, which we can do if required. Following the Crimean War, it was painfully clear to the War Office that, with half of the British Army dispositioned around the Empire on garrison duty, it had insufficient forces available to quickly compose and despatch an effective expeditionary force to a new area of conflict, unless it was to reduce the British Isles' own defences. During the Crimean War, the War Office had been forced to send militia and yeomanry to make up the shortfall of soldiers in the Regular Army. The situation had been complicated by the fact that both auxiliary forces were under the control of the Home Office until 1855.

Tensions rose between the United Kingdom and France following the Orsini affair, an assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III on 14 January 1858. It emerged that the would-be assassin, Felice Orsini had travelled to England to have the bombs used in the attack manufactured in Birmingham. The perceived threat of invasion by the much larger French Army was such that, even without sending a third of the army to another Crimea, Britain's military defences had already been stretched invitingly thin. On 29 April 1859 war broke out between France and the Austrian Empire (the Second Italian War of Independence), and there were fears that Britain might be caught up in a wider European conflict  read more

Code: 20589

A French 1830's Belltop Shako Helmet Plate 2nd Regiment

Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 - 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 as the leader of the Orleanist party. As a member of the cadet branch of the Royal House of France and a cousin of King Louis XVI of France by reason of his descent from their common ancestors Louis XIII and Louis XIV of France, he had earlier found it necessary to flee France during the period of the French Revolution in order to avoid imprisonment and execution, a fate that actually befell his father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans. He spent 21 years in exile after he left France in 1793. He was proclaimed king in 1830 after his cousin Charles X was forced to abdicate in the wake of the events of the July Revolution of that year. His government, known as the July Monarchy, was dominated by members of a wealthy French elite and numerous former Napoleonic officials. He followed conservative policies, especially under the influence of the French statesman Francois Guizot during the period 1840-48. He also promoted friendship with Britain and sponsored colonial expansion, notably the conquest of Algeria. His popularity faded as economic conditions in France deteriorated in 1847, and he was forced to abdicate after the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848. He lived out his life in exile in Great Britain.  read more

Code: 20588

A Victorian, Stilleto Style, So-Called Prostitute’s Dagger

With very attractive pressed ivorine handle made to simulate ivory. A prostitutes dagger was so called due to their attractiveness and useful size for concealment by unaccompanied ladies abroad after dark. Of course they would never have been sold as such by retailers, and the term has entered the vernacular of collectors probably even after the time they were actually made, however, like the term 'mortuary hilted swords' that bore the engraved visage of the king in the hilt from the English Civil War, they were never actually called that until almost 200 years later. They are attractively designed elegant daggers, just such as this one, with a slender and most efficient blade. Prostitution became a major concern and a focal point for social reformers in the 19th century. Concerns were seen everywhere including the literature of notables such as Charles Dickens. He created characters (some of which may have had real life versions) like Nancy in Oliver Twist, and Martha Endell in David Copperfield.

No one knows for certain, but there were somewhere between 8,000 and 80,000 prostitutes in London during the Victorian Age. It is generally accepted that most of these women found themselves in prostitution due to economic necessity.

There were three attitudes towards prostitution – condemnation, regulation, and reformation. Dickens adopted the last and was intimately involved in a house of reform called Urania Cottage. No scabbard Blade 4.25 inches, overall 8.25 inches long  read more

Code: 24413

A Superb, Original Watercolour of a Victorian 1st Royal Dragoons NCO by H.R. Coombe

A most attractive portrait of a mounted Sergeant of Dragoons in full dress probably late Victorian. One of the non commissioned officers of one of the great historical regiments of the British Army. 14 x 19 framed picture 8.75 x 12.5 inches The regiment also fought at the Battle of Beaumont in April 1794 and the Battle of Willems in May 1794 during the Flanders Campaign. It served under Viscount Wellesley, as the rearguard during the retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras in September 1810, and charged the enemy at the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro in May 1811 during the Peninsular War. The regiment also took part in the charge of the Union Brigade under the command of Major-General William Ponsonby at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 during the Hundred Days Campaign. Captain Alexander Kennedy Clark, an officer in the regiment, captured the French Imperial Eagle of the 105th Line Infantry Regiment during the battle.

In 1816 a detachment of the regiment was involved with suppressing the Littleport riots.

Rough Rider Robert Droash of the 1st Royal Dragoons after serving in the Crimean War in 1856
The regiment, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Yorke, also took part in the charge of the heavy brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854 during the Crimean War. Having been re-titled the 1st (Royal) Dragoons in 1877, the regiment also saw action at the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885 during the Mahdist War. In January 1900, during the Second Boer War, the regiment was part of a force that set out to discover the western flank of the Boer lines. It was able to ambush a column of about 200 Boers near Acton Homes and successfully trapped about 40 of them. Following the end of the war, 623 officers and men of the regiment left South Africa on the SS Kildonan Castle, which arrived at Southampton in October 1902.

The regiment, which had been serving at Potchefstroom in South Africa when the First World War started, returned to the UK and than landed at Ostend as part of the 6th Cavalry Brigade in the 3rd Cavalry Division in October 1914 for service on the Western Front.[9] It took part in the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914, the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, the Battle of Loos in September 1915 and the advance to the Hindenburg Line in 1917  read more

Code: 22549

An Original, Beautifully Executed, Watercolour of a 19th Century Officer Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

485mm x 379mm frame size. Signed by the artist H Reginald Coombes. A very well painted piece in good condition and most charming style, of one of the officers of one of the great historical regiments of the British Army. The First Battalion of the 27th distinguished itself at the Battle of Maida in Southern Italy in 1806, and together with the Second and Third Battalions formed part of the Peninsula Army, which under the Duke of Wellington cleared Spain and Portugal of the French between the years 1809 and 1812, and finally entered France in triumph. There is not space enough here to recount all the details of the Regiment’s doings in the campaign but the names Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, and Toulouse emblazoned on the Colours are sufficient testimony that it played a not undistinguished part therein.

The 27th was the only Irish infantry regiment (out of eight in the army) to fight at the Battle of Waterloo on the 18th June 1815, where the Emperor Napoleon was finally overthrown and his dreams of world-domination dispelled forever. It is perhaps its most cherished battle-honour as there it held a position of vital importance against great odds the whole day and in after years was acknowledged by the Duke of Wellington to have saved the centre of the line.

After a period of peace it found itself in South Africa where between 1837 and 1847 it was engaged in several of the numerous native wars that occurred during those years. From 1854 and 1868 it served in India taking part in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny and helping to preserve law and order in North-West India. In 1881, as a result of the reforms begun in 1870, the Twenty-Seventh became the First Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and a Second Battalion (descended from an East India Company Regiment, the Third Madras Europeans, later the Hundred and Eighth Regiment of the Queen’s Service) came into being; at the same time three Regiments of Irish Militia became the Third, Fourth and Fifth Battalions.

The Second Battalion saw service in the great uprising of the Pathan tribes in the Tirah Valley on the North-west frontier of India in 1897-98, and after the end of that campaign remained in India until January 1902 when it was sent to South Africa to take part in the closing stages of the Boer War. The First Battalion reached South Africa in November 1899 and was part of General Buller’s army sent to lift the siege of Ladysmith. Its first actions were at the battle of the river crossing at Colenso. Some months later, at Inniskilling Hill, the battalion’s Medical officer was awarded a Victoria Cross for rescuing a wounded officer whilst under heavy enemy fire. From late in 1901 to the end of the war in 1902 the battalion constructed and occupied numerous sections of the block-house line which divided the country into large areas surrounded by wire with fortified posts at intervals. Within these areas mounted troops drove the Boers on to the wire fences, where, being caught between two fires, they were forced to surrender.  read more

Code: 22548

Rifle Brigade Victorian OR’s Helmet Plate

An excellent example, die-stamped blackened on two loops. Within a laurel wreath surmounted by a Guelphic Crown resting on a tablet inscribed Waterloo, a Maltese cross with lions between the arms and ball finials to the tips. The arms of the cross bear numerous honours; the wreath bears honours Sevastopol Alma Inkerman. Between the bottom arm of the cross and the wreath, three scrolls Lucknow over Peninsula with Ashantee below; across the base of the wreath, a scroll The Prince Consort’s Own’
9.5cm high  read more

Code: 18569

Wonderful Antique Indo Persian, Mughal, Large Ram's Head Ceremonial Mace 'Chob', A Thing of Rare Beauty

A most beautiful, impressive and sizeable piece of zoomorphic object d'art, a noble court ceremonial mace. Paintings in miniature and chronicles of the Mughal court reveal that ceremonial maces were often richly ornamented and made of luxurious materials, this piece being a fine example, still has traces of its original silvered surface. The Chob (or ceremonial mace) in India, is a story of the past that echoed with the different versions of luxury being a part of daily life in India. The old kings and the maharajas in the mughal empire celebrated their daily routine with pristine, beautiful and valuable objects that exuded refined craftsmanship and the finest detail. These luxury objects are still evident in some states of the country which have initiated to preserve their story of heritage by different means .

One of these particular object is that of a ceremonial mace, popularly called the Chob. It was used as an instrument for war as well as in ceremonies comprising of Indian Mughal rituals. In Indian ceremonial context it was observed as a symbol of (authority) in and around the society of those times .
Chobs were present in Mughal court paintings depicted around the mace-bearers (stick bearers), standing inside the barrier of railings around the ruler, identified by its particular shape. Indian arms and furniture objects were profusely covered with very rich and fine materials for decoration. Emperor Jehangir( r.1605 ? 27 ) has clearly mentioned in his memoirs to a six flanged mace [shashpar] made out of solid gold. ( refer -The Tuzuk-I-Jahangir,or,Memoirs of Jehangir , trans.. Alexander Rogers ,ed. Henry Beveridge ;London ,1909;vol-1 ).
With a stunning mace head of a representation of the head of a ram, surmounting a spiral form haft. These exquisite objects of desire and utility came to life due to their surface treatment with material that could be be easily used in adornment . The native crafts of Awadh and northeastern parts of India played a pivotal role, the craftsmen were commissioned to carve out such bespoke creations for the maharajas and nobility. The functions of these ceremonial maces were of regulating entry to the immediate precincts of the throne. If you observe in the Padshanamah manuscript, for example, they are seen in presentation scenes in which objects of value are in evidence or where some level of security is needed for a barrier. King of the world: The Padshanamah, an imperial mughal manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. One picture in the gallery shows the Mughul Maharaja's Ceremonial 'Chob' bearers marching in the parade [carrying the simpler ball type Chobs]. Hollow construction mace, with small impact dent to the rear head and an old repair to one rams ear. 22 inches long overall.  read more

Code: 22517