An April 13th 1945 Daily Mirror Roosevelt Dies Headline Newspaper

and "End in a Few Days", US Told; A likely unique opportunity to own a piece of WW2 history. It would look splendid framed. Including within its pages is a story of a 20 year old WW2 widow, photographed working as a cinema ticket booth operator, who was told her Killed in Action husband has been posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the rarest and most valorous medal in the world. It details that he stood in open ground on a battlefield in Burma and held back a force of 300 Japanese on his own, from a distance of only 10 yards. When they returned for another assault he used a mortar, single handed, again completely unprotected in open ground, killed 7 then was mortally wounded. These were real and most worthy heroes, not the seemingly pointless self centred media celebrities of today, that appear to be worshiped by todays masses of the 21st century. Also, an article of the 14th Army Killing 1,029 Japs, "its greatest day of Jap-Killing since the fall on Mandalay". Not a piece of Western reportage that we would ever expect to see today! Plus a most peculiar cartoon section that we need not describe in words, humour certainly has changed in 70 years, but we think the pictures say it all??  read more

Code: 20216

A Super Edo Period Signed Samurai Sword Tsuba That Has Been Damaged in Sword Combat possibly by Tsubazeriai

A most fascinating result of sword to sword combat by two samurai, either a blade has struck the tsuba and been deflected, but in its progress, cutting off part of the tsuba, or, possibly by two samurai locking swords, tsuba to tsuba and this one has broken. either way it is most intriguing. In a duel, in kendo, two participants may lock their katana together at the point of the tsuba and push, trying to gain a better position from which to strike the other down. This is known as tsubazeriai pushing tsuba against each other. Tsuba were made by whole dynasties of craftsmen whose only craft was making tsuba. They were usually lavishly decorated. In addition to being collectors items, they were often used as heirlooms, passed from one generation to the next. Japanese families with samurai roots sometimes have their family crest (mon) crafted onto a tsuba. Tsuba can be found in a variety of metals and alloys, including iron, steel, brass, copper and shakudo.  read more

Code: 23920

Watercolour, Zeppelin LZ 47 Tactical No LZ 77 Bodensee by Manfred Hassel

Signed and In super condition. Mounted on card. An original early Aeronautical watercolour of WW1 beautifully executed. Attacks on England and France dropping a total of 12,610 kg (27,800 lb) of bombs. Destroyed by enemy fire on 21 February 1916 in the Battle of Verdun, killing the crew of 15. Reports at the time indicated LZ 77 had searchlights, eight machine guns, two so-called 'revolver' guns in the top lookout post, was accompanied by fixed-wing aircraft and at least one other Zeppelin and had orders to bomb the nearby railway lines. P Class Zeppelin Airships LZ 47 (LZ 77) and LZ 49 (LZ 79) were deployed to Namur in order to carry out bombing raid on Paris. LZ 49 (LZ 79) bombed Paris on the 29/30 of January, but was damaged by ground fire and was destroyed in a forced landing at Ath in Belgium. The Army Zeppelins were then used to support the German army in the early phases of the battle of Verdun. On 21 February, the first day of the German offensive, four of the six available Zeppelins set out to bomb the French supply lines. LZ 65 (LZ 95), the first Q class Zeppelin, was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire and was destroyed in a crash landing at the base in Namur. The P class LZ 47 (LZ 77) was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Revigny, catching fire and killing the crew of 11, and LZ 58 (LZ 88) was forced to return to its base by squalls and snow showers. The P class was an enlarged version of the preceding M class. On 5 August 1914 the Zeppelin company put forward a proposal to the German Navy Ministry for a design based on LZ 26. This had been started as a passenger carrying craft for DELAG and was the first Zeppelin with a duralumin framework, and also had the strengthening keel inside the hull structure. The proposed design was larger, with the volume increased from 25,000 m3 (880,000 cu ft) to 31,900 m3 (1,126,000 cu ft) and a fourth engine was added. As well as being larger, allowing a greater range and bomb load, the P class introduced enclosed crew accommodation. The Zeppelin P Class was the first Zeppelin airship type to be produced in quantity after the outbreak of the First World War. 22 of the type were built as well as 12 of a lengthened version, the Q Class . They were used for many of the airship bombing raids on the United Kingdom in 1915-16, for naval patrol work over the North Sea and Baltic and were also deployed on the eastern and south-eastern fronts. Painting front size 16.25 x 9 inches  read more

Code: 20920

A Superb Historical Political Collectable, an Autograph of Benjamin Disreali, Framed With Small Portrait Print.

One of the great political and historical characters of the 19th century. From his personal letter to a gentleman in South Audley St. in London. Signed Disraeli in ink. Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS (21 December 1804 ? 19 April 1881) was a British politician and writer, who twice served as Prime Minister. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire. He is the only British Prime Minister of Jewish birth.

Disraeli was born in London. His father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue; young Benjamin became an Anglican at the age of 12. After several unsuccessful attempts, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837. In 1846 the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which involved ending the tariff on imported grain. Disraeli clashed with Peel in the Commons. Disraeli became a major figure in the party. When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. He also forged a bitter rivalry with Gladstone of the Liberal Party.

Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became Prime Minister briefly before losing that year's election. He returned to opposition, before leading the party to a majority in the 1874 election. He maintained a close friendship with Queen Victoria, who in 1876 created him Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli's second term was dominated by the Eastern Question?the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire and the desire of other European powers, such as Russia, to gain at its expense. Disraeli arranged for the British to purchase a major interest in the Suez Canal Company (in Ottoman-controlled Egypt). In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy. This diplomatic victory over Russia established Disraeli as one of Europe's leading statesmen.

World events thereafter moved against the Conservatives. Controversial wars in Afghanistan and South Africa undermined his public support. He angered British farmers by refusing to reinstitute the Corn Laws in response to poor harvests and cheap imported grain. With Gladstone conducting a massive speaking campaign, his Liberals bested Disraeli's Conservatives in the 1880 election. In his final months, Disraeli led the Conservatives in opposition. He had throughout his career written novels, beginning in 1826, and he published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76.  read more

Code: 19980

A Irish Rebellion Knights Rowel Spur of the 16th Century, With its Buckle

From the Desmond Rebellions, that occurred in 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 in the Irish province of Munster.

They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies, against the threat of the extension of their South Welsh Tewdwr cousins of Elizabethan English government over the province. The rebellions were motivated primarily by the desire to maintain the independence of feudal lords from their monarch, but also had an element of religious antagonism between Catholic Geraldines and the Protestant English state. They culminated in the destruction of the Desmond dynasty and the plantation or colonisation of Munster with English Protestant settlers. 'Desmond' is the Anglicisation of the Irish Deasmumhain, meaning 'South Munster'. FitzMaurice first attacked the English colony at Kerrycurihy south of Cork city in June 1569, before attacking Cork itself and those native lords who refused to join the rebellion. FitzMaurice's force of 4,500 men went on to besiege Kilkenny, seat of the Earls of Ormonde, in July. In response, Sidney mobilised 600 English troops, who marched south from Dublin and another 400 landed by sea in Cork. Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormonde, returned from London, where he had been at court, brought the Butlers out of the rebellion and mobilised Gaelic Irish clans antagonistic to the Geraldines. Together, Ormonde, Sidney and Humphrey Gilbert, appointed as governor of Munster, devastated the lands of FitzMaurice's allies in a scorched earth policy. FitzMaurice's forces broke up, as individual lords had to retire to defend their own territories. Gilbert, a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, was the most notorious for terror tactics, killing civilians at random and setting up corridors of severed heads at the entrance to his camps. Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 ? 9 September 1583) of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh (they had the same mother, Catherine Champernowne), and cousin of Sir Richard Grenville. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America and the Plantations of Ireland. In 1588, the English Lord President of Munster, Sir Warham St. Leger, sent a tract to the English Privy Council identifying the kings of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht, and the feudal lordships which were then in existence. For the most part, the rights and prerogatives of the Irish kings whose territories lay outside the Pale were recognized and honoured by the (English) government in Dublin, which prudently saw that centralized rule of all Ireland was impossible. Largest, richest and most politically developed of the Gaelic Kingdoms of Ireland was Munster, which at its height comprised all of what are today the counties of Cork, Kerry and Waterford, as well as parts of Limerick and Tipperary. Recovered in Ireland over 150 years ago in Kilkenny at a supposedly known battle area. We have mounted on a red board for display. We show for illustration purposes a portrait of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and 16th century period engraving prints of the rebellion and the aftermath, the fleet landing, the troops marshalling and the execution of the rebels.  read more

Code: 20242

A Very Good & Intriguing 19th Century 'Cult' Stiletto Dagger

A wonderfully fascinating Victorian secret society dagger from one of the mysterious mystical cults. Signed blade, twin headed four breasted goddess dagger hilt. The scabbard's belt hook is a hand holding a snake and the scabbard is engraved with symbolic plants and leaves. It would be from one of the cult that existed in 19th century society and the took many forms, such as 'The Decadent Movement'
In Europe, around the mid-19th century, artists began to rebel against the wide eyes, determined naturalism, and apple-cheeked wholesome idealism of the romantic movement. Tired of celebrating "naturally" good humans and unaffected art, they turned to darker themes, heavy symbolism, and a kind of spiritual subversiveness. And they found Satan. These were the people who started toying with Satan as an intriguing, sympathetic, or even heroic figure. Charles Baudelaire was a famous Decadent, and wrote, "The Flowers of Evil," and "Litanies to Satan."  read more

Code: 22762

A Very Good Decorated Spanish Antique Albacete Fighting Knife

A 19th Century Spanish Fighting knife of Albacete, Spain; The knife measures 28cm in length with an elaborate ornately pierced blade. The blade has two holes and an open panel incised for decoration, with added pin point engraved decoration. The hilt is brass, inlaid with carved bone. The bone has been fluted length ways and further inlaid with decorative brass panels. A Handbook for Travellers in Spain (printed in 1855), by Richard Ford, has a commentary on the knife culture that prevailed in Spain at the time. When we read an account of an exotic land written by an English traveler in 19th century Albacete, Abula, he describes that as owing to its central position, from whence roads and rails branch to Aragon, Murcia, Valencia, and Madrid, it is a place of great traffic, and is a town of locomotives, from the English rail, the French dilly, to the Spanish donkey. . . . "Albacete is called the Sheffield of Spain, as Chatelherault is the knife making centre of France; but everything is by comparison, and the coarse cutlery turned out in each, at whose make and material an English artisan smiles, perfectly answers native ideas and wants. The object of a Spanish knife is to "chip bread and kill a man," "  read more

Code: 20810

Fabulous 'Black Museum' Piece, Sheepskin Driving Gloves of The Most Notorious Dr Adams Who Incredibly Escaped Conviction in England's Greatest Murder Trial, Suspected of Murdering Up to 162 Patients

Acquired from the estate of the most notorious Dr John Bodkin Adams A.K.A.: "Doctor Death"
The infamous yet unproven therefore most successful serial killer poisoner - John Bodkin Adams (21 January 1899 – 4 July 1983). Probably England's most prolific serial killer prior to Dr Shipman. His extraordinary acquittal at his murder trial was described as a travesty of justice, and highly suspicious due to suspected corruption and interference. The prosecution was subject to a demand for a professional inquiry.

He was a British general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer. Between 1946 and 1956, 163 of his patients died while in comas, which was deemed to be worthy of investigation. In addition, 132 out of 310 patients had left Adams money or items in their wills. He was thus believed to be Britain's richest doctor.
Adams' first trial was received worldwide press coverage and was described as "one of the greatest murder trials of all time" and "murder trial of the century".The trial also had several important legal ramifications. It established the doctrine of double effect, whereby a doctor giving treatment with the aim of relieving pain may lawfully, as an unintentional result, shorten life. Secondly, because of the publicity surrounding Adams' committal hearing, the law was changed to allow defendants to ask for such hearings to be held in private. Finally, although a defendant had not been required within recorded legal history to give evidence in his own defence, the judge underlined in his summing-up that no prejudice should be attached by the jury to Adams not doing so. Scotland Yard's files on the case were initially closed to the public for 75 years.

The circumstantial evidence against him was extraordinary, but most was not brought into evidence. For example, on just one occasion he booked an appointment for a pathologist to perform an autopsy on his patient who was not even dead.

The first two of his highly suspicious and suspected murders were wealthy Eastbourne residents, Gertrude Hullet.and Edith Morell
Edith Alice Morrell was a patient of Dr Adams who had been partially paralysed after suffering a stroke. Adams supplied her with a cocktail of heroin and morphine to ease her discomfort, insomnia and symptoms of ‘cerebral irritation’ that was a condition of her illness.

However, three months before Morrell’s death on November 13th, 1949, she added a clause to her will stating that Adams was to receive nothing. Despite this clause Dr Adams, who maintained that Morrell had died from natural causes, still received a small amount of money, cutlery and a Rolls Royce.

The second alleged victim of Dr Adams did not occur until seven years after Mrs Morrell had died. Gertrude Hullett was another patient of Dr Adams who fell ill and then into unconsciousness. Despite not even being dead, Dr Adams called a local pathologist, Francis Camps, to make an appointment for an autopsy. When Camps realised that Hullett was still alive he accused Adams of ‘extreme incompetence’.

On July 23rd, 1956, Gertrude Hullett died and Adams recorded the cause of death as having been the result of a brain haemorrhage. An official investigation however, arrived at the conclusion that she had committed suicide. Camps argued that she had been poisoned with sleeping pills. Like Mrs Morrell before her, Hullett left several valuable items to Dr Adams including a Rolls Royce.
After years of rumours and Adams having been mentioned in at least 132 wills of his patients, on 23 July 1956 Eastbourne police received an anonymous call about a death. It was from Leslie Henson, the music hall performer, whose friend Gertrude Hullett had died unexpectedly while being treated by Adams.

The investigation

The investigation was taken over from Eastbourne police by 2 officers from the Metropolitan Police's Murder Squad. The senior officer, Detective Superintendent Herbert Hannam of Scotland Yard on 17 August was known for having solved the infamous Teddington Towpath Murders in 1953. He was assisted by a junior officer, Detective Sergeant Charles Hewett. The investigation focused on cases from 1946-1956 only. Of the 310 death certificates examined by Home Office pathologist Francis Camps, 163 were deemed to be suspicious. Many were given "special injections" - of substances Adams refused to describe to the nurses caring for his patients. Furthermore, it emerged that his habit was to ask the nurses to leave the room before injections were given.
On another, he told a nurse ‘it will only be a matter of minutes before she dies’, even though his patient had only been complaining of stomach ache before he injected her.

Another nurse remembered going into an elderly patient’s bedroom to find her freezing to death by an open window in February with her nightgown pulled up, while Dr Adams sat reading a book.

‘I am quite confident Adams is a mass-murderer,’ said the detective in charge of the investigation.

‘He has certainly killed 14 people.’  read more

Code: 23901

A Fascinating Most Rare Original Election Propaganda Poster of a Post WW1 German Political Party That Was Absorbed Into The Nazi NSDAP German National People’s Party. Designed by Richard Müller, Chemnitz.

A Reichstag election poster of the German National People's Party.

Wohin die fahrt?
nach nationaler einheit u freiheit
wahlt deutschnational

Where are you going?
according to national unity and freedom
elect a German national

The German National People's Party (German: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Weimar Germany. It was an alliance of nationalists, reactionary monarchists, völkisch and antisemitic elements supported by the Pan-German League After 1929, the DNVP co-operated with the socialist Nazis, joining forces in the Harzburg Front of 1931, forming coalition governments in some states and finally supporting Hitler's appointment as Chancellor (Reichskanzler) in January 1933. Initially, the DNVP had a number of ministers in Hitler's government, several prominent Nazis began their careers in the DNVP., but the party quickly lost influence and eventually dissolved itself in June 1933, giving way to the Nazis' single-party dictatorship, the majority of its former members joining the Nazi party. The Nazis allowed the remaining former DNVP members in the Reichstag, the civil service, and the police to continue with their jobs and left the rest of the party membership generally in peace
During the Second World War, several prominent former DNVP members, such as Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, were involved in the German resistance against the Nazis and took part in the 20 July assassination plot against Hitler in 1944. Approx size A4.  read more

Code: 23896

SAVE £650 A Rare Pair of Antique Ottoman Empire Iron Stirrups

A pair of antique 17th to 18th century Turkish Ottoman Empire russet iron stirrups of characteristic form, with broad arch treads. All steel construction in the early style that goes back to the medieval period. One picture in the gallery shows Fatih Sultan Mehmet II [using his identical stirrups] entering Constantinople, after his conquest, in 1453. The stirrup took time to appear on the scene. The saddle itself was a relative latecomer in the history of riding ? Alexander the Great, for example, conquered his empire astride some simple pieces of cloth. Saddles with saddle trees, which made stirrups possible, are said to have first appeared in Central Asia around the time of Jesus birth. And after having initially taken the form of a buckle, notably in India,?the first stirrups for both feet reinforcing the rider's balance seem to have arisen around the year 100 in the Kushan Empire (encompassing parts of Afghanistan, modern-day Pakistan and northern India) before spreading to northern China in the 3rd century and the western steppes of Iran in the 6th century. Hundreds of years later around 700 years after Jesus Christ stirrups reached Western Europe, spreading throughout the society around the 9th century. Several routes are possible when explaining their arrival in the region, and expert opinion is divided on the subject. Some say they were brought by the Huns; others affirm that they were introduced by Persians to Arabs, then Arabs to Byzantines; still others believe that Arabs imported them into Europe via southern Spain and the south of France. Whatever the case, the earliest representations of stirrups appear on a chess set piece offered to Charlemagne by the caliph Haroun al-Rachid (who died in 809), then in Spanish documents in the first part of the 9th century.  read more

Code: 22614