Louis XVI Portico Clock Signed François-Pierre Jolly Known as Gaston-Jolly in White and Black Marble and Gilt Bronze Ornamentation, Enamel Dial Surrounded by a Large Laurel Wreath Sumounted by Four Columns. Napoleonic Directoire Period

Each of the four columns are encircled with gilt bronze foliage, rich decoration of urns, flowers, acorns and chains, radiating mask pendulum, small toupie feet, from the late 18th century to early 19th century Napoleonic era.

François-Pierre Jolly, known as Gaston-Jolly, is one of the most important Parisian horologists of the late 18th century and the early 19th century. After he became a master, on May 6, 1784, he established his workshop in the rue de Arcis and quickly earned a reputation among Parisian horological connoisseurs. During the Directoire and the Empire, he created several clocks, which were sought-after due to the quality of their movements and their original compositions. He is recorded first in the rue Pavée Saint-Sauveur from 1810 to 1820, then in the boulevard Poissonnière in 1820. Certain of his creations were recorded during the Empire as belonging to important collectors of the day, such as the wife of Charles-Philibert-Marie-Gaston de Lévis, comte de Mirepoix, la comtesse Alexandrine-Marie-Julie-Félicité de Montboissier-Beaufort-Canillac. See picture five in the gallery of her portrait in the Louvre. She is widely believed to be the subject of Jeune femme attachant un bouquet de fleurs (around 1784), a miniature portrait painted by Jacques-Antoine-Marie Lemoine. The piece is housed in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Louvre Museum. Her father, Philippe-Claude de Montboissier-Beaufort-Canillac, marquis de Montboissier was executed by guillotine in 1794, during the French Revolution.

Another famous collector of Jolly's clocks was Bernard-Charles-Louis-Victor, Marquis de Lostanges, Napoleon’s Chamberlain. During the First Empire, Lostanges-Béduer was noted among Parisian connoisseurs and collectors of luxury decorative arts, notably acquiring fine horological works from renowned clockmakers such as François-Pierre Jolly. Lostanges-Béduer died in 1812, the same year as Napoleon's ill-fated Russian campaign, in which many officers of the Imperial Household participated.

Picture 5 in the gallery is a portrait of renown Gaston {François-Pierre} Jolly clock collector, now in the Louvre 'Jeune femme attachant un bouquet de fleurs (around 1784), a miniature portrait painted by Jacques-Antoine-Marie Lemoine.'  read more

Code: 26430

A Superb Victorian & WW1 Senior Naval Officer's Sword Bicorn Hat and Eppaulettes All In Superb Condition With Profile Shaped Helmet Storage Tin and EppauletteTransit and Storage Case

The sword is in fabulous condition with all its original mercurial gilt to the hilt and scabbard mounts.

The 1827 Pattern British Royal Navy Officer's Sword was introduced during the reign of George IV, replacing the 1805 spadrun pattern. It features a half-basket gilt-brass hilt with a crowned fouled anchor, a lion-head pommel, a white fishskin (shagreen) or ray-skin grip bound with wire, and a distinctive hinged folding inner guard designed to lock into the scabbard pin. Early versions used a "pipe-backed" blade style until 1846, when standard fullered and straight blade specifications evolved

the Royal Naval Bicorn hat is is very nice condition within its original bicorn profile shaped tin case with name plate.

A lovely officers silk bicorn with bullion scrolls and King's Crown buttons for King Edward VIIth. The bicorne or bicorn (two-cornered) is an archaic form of hat widely adopted in the 1790s as an item of uniform by British naval officers. It is readily associated with Napoléon Bonaparte and Admiral Nelson, but in practice most generals and staff officers of the Napoleonic era, of all European nations wore bicornes, and it survived as a widely worn full-dress head dress until at least 1914 in the Navy.

Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations. In the French and other armies, epaulettes are also worn by all ranks of elite or ceremonial units when on parade. It may bear rank or other insignia, and should not be confused with a shoulder mark - also called an shoulder board, rank slide, or slip-on - a flat cloth sleeve worn on the shoulder strap of a uniform (although the two terms are often used interchangeably).

Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or passenten, a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the underside of the epaulette passing through holes in the shoulder of the coat or by a metal slide arrangement. Colloquially, any shoulder straps with marks are also called epaulettes. The placement of the epaulette, its colour and the length and diameter of its bullion fringe are used to signify the wearer's rank. Although originally worn in the field, and they certainly were when these were made, epaulettes are now normally limited to dress or ceremonial military uniforms. A photo in the gallery of Nelson's shot-through epaulette from Trafalgar. He has two stars due to his superior Admirals rank.  read more

Code: 26429

Japanese Koto, Sengoku Period, 500 Year Old Samurai Mounted Combat and Court Sword. Original Edo Era Mounted Ito-Maki No Tachi, With Original Edo Black and Red Tsugaru-nuri (津軽塗) With the Kara-nuri (唐塗) Technique Urushi Lacquer Saya.

Japanese Court Sword Ito-Maki No Tachi, blade cms signed Koto period, straight itame hada and hamon, in tachi koshirae, Edo period silk Ito bound over samegawa ( giant rayskin) tsuka, engrave, sinchu mounts with fine engraving, gilt dai seppa aoi tsuba with seppas, in its Tsugaru-nuri (津軽塗) lacquered saya with binding and mounts en-suite with hilt.
Traditional Japanese Tsugaru-nuri (津軽塗) lacquerware finish, specifically featuring the Kara-nuri (唐塗) technique in a red and black (Nashi-guro / 梨黒) colourway with metallic powder accents.

Kara-nuri It features a mottled, speckled, or raindrop-like abstract pattern created through a painstaking traditional process involving up to 48 separate steps of applying layers of colored lacquer, drying, and polishing.
Artisans use a specially notched spatula (called a shikake-bera) to carve patterns into the layered lacquer before sanding and polishing it down to reveal the colourful, organic strata beneath.

Tsugaru-nuri is a renowned traditional craft from Aomori Prefecture, Japan, celebrated for its intricate multi-layered application of lacquer, distinctive speckled patterns, and extreme durability.

A tachi (太刀) is a traditional, single-edged, curved Japanese sword worn by the samurai class, predominantly used during the Kotō period (900–1596). It is the historical predecessor to the iconic katana.

Measuring typically longer than the katana, the tachi was designed primarily for cavalry warfare. Its pronounced, deep curvature (especially near the hilt) made it exceptionally effective for delivering powerful, sweeping slicing cuts while riding a horse. Even after the mass-infantry-focused katana overtook it in popularity during the Muromachi period, the tachi remained a highly revered status symbol worn by high-ranking samurai for in the daimyo's or shogun's court.

In the Sengoku period (1467–1615) or the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1600), the itomaki tachi (itomaki no tachi, 糸巻太刀), which means a tachi wound with thread, appeared and became the mainstream of tachi after that. Itomaki tachi was decorated with lacquer decorations with many maki-e and complex coloured threads, and could used for presentation, a ceremony, or an offering to the kami of Shinto shrines.

In later Japanese feudal history, during the Sengoku and Edo periods, certain high-ranking warriors of the ruling class wore their sword tachi-style (edge-downward), rather than with the scabbard thrust through the belt with the edge upward. This style of swords is called handachi, "half tachi". In handachi, styles were often mixed, for example, fastening to the obi was katana style, but metalworking of the scabbard was tachi style.

Overall condition very good indeed, the Edo period silk Ito binding is age worn but only as to be expected for 160 year old silk.
Photographed as is at present, we are awaiting the blade to be expertly cleaned to reveal its hidden beauty, it will then be photographed in detail.

Blade 27.3 inches long, 38 inches overall  read more

Code: 26428

A Most Fine Original, Antique, Early Napoleonic Wars Period 19th Century Antique North African Moukhala Snaphance Lock Gun With Wonderful Intricate Silver Wirework Inlay & Ivory Butt Plate

The lock is an Arabian North African made version of a Dutch snaphance. The lock plate is 20 cm long, and is of considerable thickness and is shaped with a decorative finial at the tail and a simple point at the front. Screwed to it is a long deep gutter shaped pan whose outer end is closed by a thick iron disc having its outer face covered in sheet silver. The flat-faced cock has a prolonged tail that engages with the nose of the horizontal sear where it protrudes through the plate and is arrested by a buffer screwed to the plate. The square frizzen is operated on by a spring whose outer edges are filed to a waved shape. The rod that links the tumbler with the pan cover is missing. The lock is fastened to the stock by three dome headed screws
There is a circular makers mark stamped on the outside of the lockplate below the buffer.

A most similar example in the Royal Armouries collection was made by tradition for the Viceroy of Tetuan, Morocco in the early 19th century

At present in the Leeds Armoury, Asian and African Gallery.

In inlaid silver there is an Islamic inscription that 'may' translate to "Allah (God) is sufficient for me, and He is the best disposer of affairs." (Alternatively: "Sufficient for us is Allah, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.")
This phrase comes directly from the Quran (Surah Ali 'Imran, 3:173). Inscriptions of this form are notoriously difficult to interpret, as they can use numerous different forms of Islamic script .

حسبي الله ونعم الوكيل

This type of flared butt musket is typical of Tetuan, in Morocco, see A C Tirri, Islamic weapons, Maghrib to Moghul, 2003, fig. 2. A7.722 centre gun.

These are often called Kabyle guns.
Cites registered.

Not suitable for export, UK mainland sale only.  read more

Code: 26427

Some of The Best Ideas For Christmas Have Come From The Lanes Armoury, Britain's Favourite & One Of The Oldest Families of Antique Collectors Shops. Our 105th Christmas, and Still Counting

Now is the time to choose that perfect gift for Christmas, even if it's for yourself!!

Unique, ancient, antique and vintage beautiful items are our speciality, and be sure and certain that anything from us will be the best choice you can make this Christmas time.

Every item will be accompanied with our unique, presentation quality, 'Certificate of Authenticity' that will not only fully certify it's genuineness, but it will detail the circumstance of it's origin, and where and when it may have been used in it's specific or generic history.

And please be further assured, all gift purchases may be changed after Christmas for any form of suitable alternatives.

"Doesn't someone you know deserve something unique from The Lanes Armoury"

The Lanes Armoury once described by the 'New York Times' as one of the very best stores to visit when in Europe.
A living, breathing gallery containing a huge ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ containing thousands of original pieces from the ancient long past, to the near recent.

We are certainly not the biggest premier store in Europe recommended by the New York Times, in fact we are probably the smallest, but what we lack in size, apparently, we more than make up for in amazement, and, we have been doing so for over 100 years

For example, we added recently items that range from an Ancient Roman Republic centurian's bronze shield boss, some incredible samurai swords, many museum pieces, plus a sword once used by one of Napoleon's generals, and numerous other Napoleonic wars swords.  read more

Code: 24523

An Original And Beautifully Exotic North African or Arabian Heavily Decoratively Inlaid Snaphaunce Lock Kabyle Musket With 7 Florid Engraved Silver Cappuchines (Barrel Bands) Circa 1790 to 1820 with Carved Butt

Kabyle Flintlock Musket (Moukhala) with sheet silver and bone decoration, late 18th C.Steel, wood, sheet silver, bone, brass. Long North African flintlock musket of Moukhala type with smooth round barrel, secured by multiple capucines clad in sheet silver. Flintlock with fine engraving and sheet silver overlay. Straight wooden stock with carved flat butt, and rich bone inlay decoration and sheet silver mounts in florid patterns. Ramrod present. Wedge-shaped shoulder rest with characteristic ribbed structure and bone appliqués. The stock and trumpet-shaped butt is enhanced with a carved butt.
With a good Snaphaunce lock of 17th century style form, fine detailed engraving around the stock, distinctive deep flattened butt, and the stock is inlaid.

Two systems of gunlock prevailed in Kabyle guns, one, which derived from Dutch and English types of snaphance lock, usually with a thicker lockplate. Half cock was provided by a dog catch behind the cock. At full cock, the sear passing through the lockplate engaged the heel of the cock. The other mechanism was the so-called Arab toe-lock, a form of miquelet lock, closely allied to the agujeta lock (which required a back or dog catch for half cock) and the Italian romanlock. The term miquelet is used today to described a particular type of Snaplock. The miquelet lock, in all varieties, was common for several centuries in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean, particularly in Spain, Italy, the Balkans, and the Ottoman Empire domains including the coastal states of North Africa. The type of musket would be described as a Kabyle snaphance

The Moukhala is the traditional flintlock musket of the Berbers and Kabyles of North Africa, particularly the Algerian Kabylia region. The elaborate decoration with sheet silver mounts and bone inlays identifies this as a high-quality piece, possibly intended as a ceremonial or prestige weapon. The flintlock shows influences of the Miquelet type, which reached North Africa via the Spanish and Italian arms-making traditions. Comparable examples are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Royal Armouries, Leeds.

This example is all locally made, and probably originates from anywhere from Morocco in the West to Saudi Arabia in the East. It features a very attractive snaphaunce style lock.

King Philip III of Spain signed an EDICT OF EXPULSION in 1609 to purge the nation of over half a million "Moors" who had arrived in Spain over the previous 500 years. These unfortunates were compelled to return to their ancestor's lands in North Africa. When leaving they took many "Western Skills" learned in Spain with them. Gunmaking was one such skill and a contingent of Muslim Gunsmiths set up in the City of Tetuan in what we now call Morocco.


They continued to make the latest style of firearms then dominant in Spain which was the Snaphaunce system, a forerunner of the traditional flintlock soon to be introduced in France.These Arab made long guns intended for use from the saddle of a Camel were smooth bored but surprisingly accurate and production of the same ignition system continued for over 200 years and more even through the late Victorian era.

What we offer here is a beautiful example of the snaphaunce muskets made between 1800 and 1820 using the finest materials available in the region, and enhanced in masses of Coin Silver most likely smelted from Spanish 16th and 17th century "Treasure" looted or mined in South America.
In Europe these most distinctive and elaborate Snaphaunce guns gained great favour in the Elizabethan era and their influence was greatly felt in Arabia, originally along the eastern trade routes, that were travelled and used by early Europeans in order to buy the finest eastern silks, gemstones & spices. They were continually used in the Middle East and the Maghrib long after they had become unfashionable in Europe. One of the most renown Berbers in history was Saint Augustine it is said of him "Of all the fathers of the church, St. Augustine was the most admired and the most influential during the Middle Ages ... Augustine was an outsider - a native North African whose family was not Roman but Berber ... He was a genius - an intellectual giant" Interestingly this gun would have been likely last used in the resistance battle against French colonial conquest of Algeria, and one of the most famous was a woman, a warrior leader called Lalla Fadhma n'Soumer (born Fadhma Nat Sid Hmed in Abi Youcef, Algeria c.1830) She was an important figure of the Algerian resistance movement during the first years of the French colonial conquest of Algeria. She was seen as the embodiment of the struggle. Lalla, the female equivalent of sidi, is an honorific reserved for women of high rank, or who are venerated as saints. Fadhma is the Berber/French spelling of the Arabic name Fatima, which is colloquially pronounced Fatma in most Arabic dialects as well as Berber

One of a Kind. The Kabyle (sometimes Jezzail from the Arabic) is a simple, cost-efficient and typically handmade muzzle-loading long arm commonly used in the Middle East region in the past. These were all highly personalized, so no two were alike.

Barrel 43.5 inches long, overall 58 inches

Not suitable for export. UK mainland sale only.  read more

Code: 26425

A Simply Stunning & Unique 'Good King Wenceslas' Art Nouveau Original Illuminated Calligrafic Manuscript Watercolour, From The Golden Age of illustration, By Arthur B Packham. In The Manner Of Alberto Sangorsky. Calligrapher and Illuminator for Riviere

This wonderful original illuminated manuscript would make a superb and most pertinent Chistmas Gift, or a singularly fine addition to any collection of rare works of art, especially dedicated to the golden age of illustration

Circa 1897. A.B.Packham's artistry, calligraphy and illumination is incredibly similar to renown calligraphic illuminated manuscript artists Alberto Sangorsky, and William Morris. Sanghorsky was the Calligrapher and Illuminator for Riviere & Son world reknown bookbinders. His works within bound volumes, that are including his original manuscripts, can achieve from £20,000 to over £150,000. Sangorski's profession was as a secretary to a goldsmith until he was 43 years of age, whereupon he began to create works for his brother at Riviere and Sons.

The first two lines and last two lines of the carol's first verse are part of the calligraphy on pure gold leaf.

The painting is in two sections, Good King Wenceslas observing from his window, {the second section} a poor man gathering winter fuel.

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen,

When a poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.

The words to the carol were written in 1853 by John Mason Neale but the melody is much older – it’s a 13th-century tune called ‘Tempus adest floridum’ in praise of the spring.

The carol was written for the Feast of St Stephen, better known as Boxing Day. And it celebrates the long tradition of charitable giving on the Second Day of Christmas.

It’s become one of the best loved carols ever written – and was even performed by The Beatles.

A. B. Packham was an architect by profession but illustrated several books based around country properties and walks around Sussex. Being a professional man, apparently, he had no interest in marketing his skillful works, so very few of his watercolurs are recorded. This example has to be one of his premier works.
Whether he followed the art of his famous contemporary, Alberto Sangorski, or followed his own path is not known, but his artistry is superb, and this wonderful piece may have been created for a book that we are currently unaware of.

The combination of "Art Nouveau" and "illuminated manuscript watercolours" describes a modern artistic approach that blends the decorative, organic style of Art Nouveau with the historical techniques of illuminated manuscripts, often using watercolor as the primary medium for modern creations. This fusion results in contemporary works that feature Art Nouveau's characteristic flowing lines, nature-inspired motifs (like tendrils and organic forms), and intricate details, but are created on a modern medium and often utilize watercolor techniques for coloring and shading. It is distinct from the original medieval practice of illuminated manuscripts, which used pigments like tempera and gouache, not watercolors

Key characteristics
Art Nouveau's influence: Incorporates the style's hallmarks, such as sinuous, organic lines, natural forms, and complex decorative patterns.
Illuminated manuscript tradition: Draws inspiration from historical manuscripts, often focusing on decorative initial letters and intricate borders.
Watercolor medium: Uses watercolor for coloring, shading, and creating effects, unlike the historical use of pigments like tempera or gouache.
Nature-inspired motifs: Features designs rooted in nature, such as flowers, leaves, and other botanical elements.

In frame 11.5 inches x 8.75 inches, the manuscript is 8.75 x 5.75 inches

Within its original wooden banded frame {bearing a couple of nicks}

Interestingly it was framed over 125 years ago by our former neighbours, W. Stepney gilders and frame makers in Bond St. Brighton  read more

Code: 25957

A Roman or Pre-Roman Copper-Alloy Bronze Shield Boss {Umbo} Featuring A Stunning Lions Head and Mane. 3rd Century To 1st Century BC. Made and Used During the Roman-Etruscan Wars Era 509-264BC

A Roman or pre-Roman bronze shield boss (umbo), likely from the area later known in the Republic Era of Augustus as Italia, featuring a lion's head was a rare, striking piece of military hardware designed to intimidate opponents and display strength or status on the battlefield. Roman-Etruscan wars era, 509-264 BC.

Shaped or hammered into a bold lion's portrait with prominent facial features (eyes, nose, ears, and mane).
The lion image was intended to inspire courage in the wearer and strike fear into the enemy.

While standard Roman legionary shields (scuta) typically featured iron or plain bronze bosses to protect the center grip, specialized or decorative lion-head bosses were sometimes linked to cavalry units (such as a turma), senior officers, or parade/ceremonial armour.
Similar lion-emblem shield traditions trace back earlier through Etruscan and Mediterranean metalwork (dating from the 7th–5th century BC onwards) before appearing in Roman-era contexts around the 1st to 3rd century AD.

The Copper-Alloy Bronze Lion's Head Shield Boss, most similar to ours, {see photo in the gallery} is displayed as an object spotlight in Segedunum's 'Following the Eagle' exhibition, in North East England, this striking bronze shield boss featuring a bold lion's head design was uncovered near the Vindolanda Roman Fort along Hadrian's Wall  read more

Code: 26418

A Very Good and Most Sound Early Late Georgian to Victorian Antique 'Blue and Gilt' Blade Swordstick, In a Fine Polished Bamboo Cane. A Most Elegant & Sophisticated Work of Art Collectors Item In Near Mint Condition..

Overall in very nice and extremely sound condition, four sided square section 'blue and gilt' engraved blade, and a very snug fit. The same 'blue and gilt' blade as can be seen in Lord byron's sword cane.

29.5 inches long blade, overall 34.5 inches long

Lord Byron was a most accomplished exponent of the use and carrying of the gentleman’s sword stick. His was exhibited in King's College London, bearing a mercurial gilt collar bearing his name, coronet and adopted surname Noel. Upon the death of Byron's mother-in-law Judith Noel, the Hon. Lady Milbanke, in 1822, her will required that he change his surname to "Noel" so as to inherit

An interesting 19th century conversation and collector's piece, and one can ponder over of the kind of gentleman who would have sought and required such a piece of personal defence paraphernalia. Although one likes to think that jolly old England had a London full of cheerful cockneys and laddish chimney sweeps, it was also plagued with political intrigue, nefarious characters and caddish swine prowling the endless foggy thoroughfares and dimly lit passageways. The swordstick was a popular fashion accessory for the wealthy during the 18th and 19th centuries. While the weapon's origins are unknown, it is apparent that the cane-sword's popularity peaked when decorative swords were steadily being replaced by canes as a result of the rising popularity of firearms, and the lessening influence of swords and other small arms.

The first sword canes were made for nobility by leading sword cutlers. Sixteenth century sword canes were often bequeathed in wills. Sword canes became more popular as the streets became less safe. Society dictated it mandatory that gentlemen of the 18th and especially 19th centuries would wear a cane when out and about, and it was common for the well-dressed gentleman to own and sport canes in a variety of styles, including a good and sound sword cane. Although Byron was proficient in the use of pistols, his lameness and his need to defend himself in some potentially dangerous situations made a swordstick doubly useful to him. He received lessons in London from the fencing master Henry Angelo and owned a number of swordsticks, some of which were supplied by his boxing instructor Gentleman John Jackson.

On Byron’s sword cane was the name NOEL BYRON, upon the ferrule of his one indicated that it was used after 1822, when Byron added the surname Noel after the death of his mother-in-law.

There are several references to sword sticks in the correspondence of Byron and his circle. Byron wrote to Hobhouse from Switzerland on 23 June 1816 asking him to Bring with you also for me some bottles of Calcined Magnesia a new Sword cane procured by Jackson he alone knows the sort (my last tumbled into this lake ) some of Waite's red tooth-powder & tooth-brushes a Taylor's Pawrsanias Pausanias and I forget the other things. Hobhouse responded on 9 July: Your commissions shall be punctually fulfilled whether as to muniments for the mind or body pistol brushes, cundums, potash Prafsanias Pausanias tooth powder and sword stick.

In the entry for 22 September 1816 in Byron's Alpine Journal he describes how, at the foot of the Jungfrau,
"Storm came on , thunder, lightning, hail, all in perfection and beautiful, I was on horseback the Guide wanted to carry my cane I was going to give it him when I recollected it was a Sword stick and I thought that the lightning might be attracted towards him kept it myself a good deal encumbered with it & my cloak as it was too heavy for a whip and the horse was stupid & stood still every other peal."

In a letter to Maria Gisborne of 6-10 April 1822, Mary Shelley described the "Pisan affray" of 24 March, in which Sergeant-Major Masi was pitch-forked by one of Byron's servants. She recounted how Byron rode to his own house, and got a sword stick from one of his servants.

Sword sticks came in all qualities, and for numerous purposes, from the simplest bamboo sword cane personal defender to stout customs officer’s ‘prod’, to offensive close quarter stiletto dagger canes and even to the other side of the world in the form of Japanese samurai’s shikome-sue, hidden swords.

We show two famous sword sticks in the gallery, one that belonged to Lord Byron, and another in a Presidential Centre Library collection, a historic sword stick is part of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Centre Library collection in Fremont, Ohio from the Waggoner family, the sword-cane was said to have been presented to Mr Waggoner by General George Washington in honour of Waggoner's service in Washington's Life Guard during the American Revolutionary War.

But it was Louis XIII who brought the cane to importance as a royal accessory. The king, as his portraits depict, supposedly always held one in his hands. He also gave them – along with valuable snuffboxes – as gifts of honour. Accordingly, gentlemen who wanted to be fashionable never went without this accessory from that time on. At the time, these were sort of ornate rods without a curved handle that were held in the hand or carried under the arm.

The 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century became the age of the cane. The tremendous popularity then created the desire to be seen with a cane. And so a wealth of unique
pieces with practical and strange handles and a mysterious inner life were created. The painter
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, for example, owned a cane containing a bottle that held a pint of absinthe.
In the mid-18th century Saxony's prime minister, Heinrich Graf von Brühl, possessed 300 sticks to go with 300 suits, together with just as many snuffboxes which he weared in turn. King Friedrich II, too, had a huge collection of luxurious walking sticks and snuffboxes. After the Seven-Years War one particular type of sticks with a handle formed like a rope, which was King Friedrich’s constant companion, became so popular, that it was dubbed the "Fritz crutch".  read more

Code: 26426

A Very Good, Original, 1640’s English Civil War Officer's Mortuary Hilted Back Sword. The Most Iconic Sword of 17th Century England & Used During Most Devisive Period of British History.

The traditional sword’s basket hilt bears, within oval panels, the engraved facial portraits, it is said, of King Charles Ist and Queen Henrietta, and several of the Green Man.

In the grey dawn of an England divided, as musket smoke curled over muddy fields and the clash of steel echoed across hedgerows, a particular weapon emerged as both a tool of war and a symbol of allegiance—the mortuary-hilted sword.

It was the year 1643. The kingdom was rent in two: Royalists loyal to King Charles I, and Parliamentarians fighting for, what they believed to be, the soul of England. In a forge just outside of London, nestled between the smoke-blackened rooftops of Southwark, a master bladesmith hammered a length of fine steel into shape. This sword would not be adorned with pomp or gilded with royal insignia. Instead, it bore a hilt that wrapped protectively over the knuckles like a skeletal hand—a mortuary hilt, practical and grim.

The name “mortuary sword” would later come from the erroneous belief that these hilts resembled funerary monuments or death masks, perhaps in reference to effigies of Charles I after his execution. In truth, they were designed for utility and protection, favoured by cavalrymen of both protagonists, for their sturdiness and balance. The complex iron hilt guarded the hand, while the long, straight, double or single edged blade, was ideal for both slashing and thrusting from horseback.

That sword described above was commissioned by Colonel Jonathan Harwood, a stern Parliamentarian officer in the New Model Army. Harwood, a veteran of Edgehill and Marston Moor, had turned from courtier to commander, disillusioned by the decadence of the Royal court. The mortuary sword at his hip was a symbol of this transformation—elegant but restrained, deadly but not ostentatious.

He carried it into battle at Naseby, where Parliament's forces broke the back of the Royalist army. The blade bit into the chaos of war, crossing with Scottish mercenaries, Dutch sabres, and French rapiers alike. And when the war drew to its bloody conclusion and the King’s head fell at Whitehall in 1649, the sword remained—not as a trophy, but as a testament to a nation’s reckoning.

After Harwood’s death in 1657, the sword passed to his son, who kept it sheathed above the hearth, a relic of turbulent times. Just as our sword may well have done. and, over the centuries, they changed hands, passed from soldier to collector, from dusty manor to museum. The once-blackened hilts still bore the ghost of the Parliamentarian's or Royalist's grip, and the steel, though dulled with age, whispered of riders in buff coats, of Cromwell’s charge, of England in convulsion.

Today, such mortuary-hilted swords like ours, can be seen in museums across Britain, including the Royal Armouries and the Imperial War Museum, their austere design speaking of a time when brother fought brother, and swords like this one helped shape the course of a kingdom.
In the Victorian period these swords thus became known as Mortuary hilted swords, due to the executed king's visage being designed within the hilt pattern. It is not known exactly how this came to be, but there is no known use of the term Mortuary hilted before this time. In the Civil War, the opening of the battle usually involved groups of cavalry, with the officers carrying these very form of swords. The main objective was to make the opposing cavalry run away. When that happened, the victorious cavalry turned on the enemy infantry. Well-disciplined pike men, brave enough to hold their ground, could do tremendous damage to a cavalry charging straight at them. There are several examples of cavalry men having three or four horses killed under them in one battle. At the start of the war the king's nephew, Prince Rupert, was put in charge of the cavalry. Although Rupert was only twenty-three he already had a lot of experience fighting in the Dutch army. Prince Rupert introduced a new cavalry tactic that he had learnt fighting in Sweden. This involved charging full speed at the enemy. The horses were kept close together and just before impact the men fired their pistols, then arming themselves with their swords for the all too fearsome hand to hand
One of the Roundhead officers who saw Prince Rupert's cavalry in action was a man called Oliver Cromwell. Although Cromwell had no military training, his experience as a large landowner gave him a good knowledge of horses. Cromwell became convinced that if he could produce a well-disciplined army he could defeat Prince Rupert and his Cavaliers. He knew that pike men, armed with sixteen-foot-long pikes, who stood their ground during a cavalry attack, could do a tremendous amount of damage.

Oliver Cromwell also noticed that Prince Rupert's cavalry were not very well disciplined. After they charged the enemy they went in pursuit of individual targets. At the first major battle of the civil war at Edge hill, most of Prince Rupert's cavalrymen did not return to the battlefield until over an hour after the initial charge. By this time the horses were so tired they were unable to mount another attack against the Roundheads.

Cromwell trained his cavalry to keep together after a charge. In this way his men could repeatedly charge the Cavaliers. Cromwell's new cavalry took part in its first major battle at Marston Moor in Yorkshire in July 1644. The king's soldiers were heavily defeated in the battle. Cromwell's soldiers became known as the Ironsides' because of the way they cut through the Cavaliers on the battlefield. The Mortuary hilted swords actually gained their unusual name some considerable time after the Civil War. For, as they bore representational portraits of King Charles Ist, it was believed in Victorian times that they were to symbolize the death of the King, however, as these swords were actually made from 1640, long before he was executed, it was an obviously erroneous naming, that curiously remains to this day. This example is a beautiful, and singularly handsome piece and would certainly be a fine addition to any collection of rare English swords. There are a few examples near identical to this sword in the Royal Collection and the Tower of London Collection.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the ‘victory’ for the 'people' by Cromwell and his puritan Parliamentarians eventually brought rewards and lands for those puritans in charge, but for the 'people', only considerable misery and disquiet. The puritans dour religious fervour and overtly anti-celebratory religious edicts {such as banning Christmas festivities, dancing, music and even mince pies} brought great unhappiness and resentment to Britain and so the exiled King, Charles IInd was invited by the people to return from his exile in France to reign once more. The once lauded, but now dead Cromwell, was disinterred, his body tried for treason, found guilty, and his head once cut off was displayed at Westminster Hall for several decades. Yet one more politician that promised much, yet delivered little.

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In good condition for age with natural age wear and tear, single side bars. 35.25 inch long blade, overall 41 inches overall  read more

Code: 23161