A King George Vth Die Struck Grenadier Guards Pagri Badge

The front has lost its gilt wash due to polishing, the rear has it remaining.The Regiment, as the Royal Regiment of Foot Guards, was formed in 1656 by King Charles the Second who was then in exile in Bruges, Flanders. It was known as the First Guards, later becoming the First Regiment of Foot Guards, and now bears the title "The First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards" in honour or the defeat of the Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
It is the only Regiment in the British Army that has directly gained it's title from the part it played in action. As seen in all of Her Majesty The Queen's ceremonial occasions, such as Changing of The Guard and Trooping the Colour.  read more

Code: 23760

A Most Rare Large Aviation Medal For the Acceptance Run of the 'LZ 4'.Zeppelin

Medal 1908, by A. Galambos. On the acceptance run of the 'LZ 4'. Germania with sword in the right wreath medallion of Count Zeppelin under oak, right a crowd of faces in an auditorium and an airship above / winged male figure with torn chain over globe and cloud. Kaiser 292.3, Gutt 14
Obverse — Goddess Germania with Sword in right hand. 60 mm. They made a smaller 33 mm silver version, and a small undated bronze version 33mm but this is the very rare, large gilt bronze version, of 60mm
Dir/ Danken/ Deine/ Deutschen.
A. Galambos on bottom
inscription — 4. 5. August 1908 on the left. A. Galambos. The Zeppelin LZ 4 was a German experimental airship constructed under the direction of Ferdinand von Zeppelin. First flown on 20 June 1908, it made a series of successful flights including a 12-hour flight over Switzerland. It was destroyed when it caught fire after landing to carry out engine repairs during a projected 24-hour endurance trial.This disaster proved fortunate for Zeppelin: donations by the German public raised 6.5 million marks, so guaranteeing the future of his development of airships. . At Westfälische Auktionsgesellschaft
Auction 71, 29-30 April 2014, a much smaller silver more common version of this medal sold for 480 euro.  read more

Code: 23707

A Super, Antique Bronze Equestrian ' Horse Racing' Collectable

Ideal for the gentleman or lady with a passion for horse racing, horses or equine collectibles. In fine cast bronze, in the form of chamber stick. With a finely detailed relief design of a horse race, showing two race horses side by side with jockeys. With a mount for a matchbox, and a rear finger loop for holding and carrying.  read more

Code: 12519

All Now Sold +++Individual Illuminated Psalter Leaves, 12th to 13th Century

19 remaining Vellum leaves from a Psalter from the reign of King Philip Augustus (1179-1223), with burnished gold initials, from Northern France. Each leaf will be around £2,400 gbp. Twenty plus lines of the finest Gothic angular script on the recto and verso, decorated with initials adorned in gold leaf and pen work ornamentation
in red and blue tempera. Margins filled with floral scrolls, characters and stylized heads or grotesque. This was a way for the scribes of this period to add little individual touches to their work.
A part of the Psalm 73 to Psalm 76, then 79 to 84. Psalm 73 of the Book of Psalms is one of the "Psalms of Asaph"; it has been categorized as one of the Wisdom Psalms".
Probably produced in North-Eastern France, perhaps in the region around Soissons, Noyons, and Lyon, or at least certainly influenced by court productions of this area and manuscripts produced in Ile-de-France, especially those of Abbey St. Victor.
Although the original patron cannot be identified, the lavish use of gold leaf and high quality lead us to suspect that the work was possibly produced for a member of the court.
24 cm height x 16.75 cm width Sample example but generic photos. Email for further enquiries, we had 19 psalter pages remaining from the collection of 29 but all now sold.  read more

Code: 21616

A Very Good Pre WW1 Royal Engineer's Dress Uniform for Lance Corporal

Tunic and trousers. In excellent condition for age. Fine red cloth with single bullion corporal stripe . Fine original Royal Engineer buttons. Austrian knots and cuffs. British other ranks and NCO's uniforms made prior to WW1 are very sought after and so few survive today as to make them most scarce and very interesting. Makers label inside with date.  read more

Code: 15259

A Most Scarce WW1 Scot's Guardsman's Tunic, Part of The British Monarch’s Personal Guard

Tunic in traditional red with brass buttons. The centre regiment of the five Guards Regiments of the Household Div. The Scots Guards have over three hundred and sixty years of unbroken service to the crown. They can trace their origins back to an army that was raised by Archibald 1st Marquess of Argyll, 16 March 1642. Since this date the Regiment has served in nearly every campaign in which the British Army has been involved in. In 1686 they were brought onto the establishment of the English Army for the first time. Eight years later they took precedence within the Foot Guards, despite their seniority by length of service. The Battle Honours of the Regiment are;

Namur 1695, Dettingen, Lincelles, [Egypt]1, Talavera, Barrosa, Fuentes d?Onor, Salamanca, Nive, Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt 1882, Suakin 1885, Modder River, South Africa 1899-1902

First World War: Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914 ?17, Langemarck 1914, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 ?18, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Pilckem, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 ?18, St. Quentin, Albert 1918, Bapaume 1918, Arras 1918, Drocourt-Qu?ant, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Canal du Nord, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18

Second World War: Stien, Norway 1940, Mont Pincon, Quarry Hill, Estry, Venlo Pocket, Rhineland, Reichswald, Cleve, Moyland, Hochwald, Rhine, Lingen, Uelzen, North-West Europe 1944-45, Halfaya 1941, Sidi Suleiman, Tobruk 1941, Gazala, Knightsbridge, Defence of Alamein Line, Medenine, Tadjera Khir, Medjez Plain, Grich el Oued, Dejbel Bou Aoukaz 1943 I, North Africa 1941-43, Salerno, Battipaglia, Volturno Crossing, Roccheta e Croce, Monte Camino, Anzio, Campoleone, Carroceto, Trasimene Line, Advance to Florence, Monte San Michele, Catarelto Ridge, Argenta Gap, Italy 1943-45
Honours since the Second World War;
Tumbledown Mountain, Falkland Islands 1982, Gulf 1991  read more

Code: 15501

An 18th Century Hallmarked Solid Silver Butt Cap For A Gentleman's Musket

Heavy guage, cast, King George IIIrd London silver, dated either 1769 or 1789 [difficult to tell exactly]. This would enhance a musket or fowling piece up to a whole new level, either as a replacement for a plain brass type, or to replace a missing example. 147.5 grams weight, butt 50mm x 124mm, butt tang 105mm  read more

Code: 17249

Every Original Purchase Comes With Our Unique Certificate of Authenticity

It will certify every piece as genuine, and further detail its area and era of use in its history, any conflicts and campaigns within which it may have been used, and all and any of its personal provenance if known.  read more

Code: 18577

A King George IIIrd Late 18th Century English Fowling Musket By Smith

For the exponent of gentlemanly pursuits. Fine walnut stock, percussion action converted from flintlock in the 1840's, steel furniture with pineapple form trigger guard finial and rear scroll. Hook breech quick release barrel with barrel key attachment. Good condition for age, fine working action. Small very old pitting area on barrel near breech, very slight scuff mark on stock at reverse of lock plate area. Throughout much of its history, hunting in England was an activity of the upper class. Legally, only land owners could hunt in England and the vast majority of the land was in large estates owned by the wealthy. To reduce poaching, the right of a person to own a gun was greatly restricted unless he was a landowner. Thus, ownership of a gun was not even a choice for the average British citizens. Moreover, deer hunting was further restricted to the royalty and generally carried out on horseback with dogs.

The wealthy British sportsmen of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries were primarily interested in hunting various types of birds. Most of their arms were designed for wing shooting. Rifles were considered an oddity. In the book titled British Field Sports; William Henry Scott (1818) the author described rifle shooting as a ?nice and curious branch of gunnery.? Scott goes on to state that "Rifles ? were little known among us, in the first American War, when people were amused on this side of the water by the story of an American woodsman, who had actually shot an eagle with his rifle, when it was?out of sight, a thing by no means impossible."
Colonel Peter Hawker, one of the most prolific British hunters of the early nineteenth century, maintained detailed diaries relating to his hunting activities. Over the course of many seasons, Hawker shot more than ten thousand birds and other small game. Over the same period of time, Hawker harvested only three deer. Colonel Hawker records that the first time he ever fired a rifle was in June of 1813 (at the age of 27) in anticipation of shooting a deer which had been causing crop damage. (Colonel Hawker's Diary at page 74). As with all our antique guns no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables  read more

Code: 20483

An 18th Long, Boot or Cloak Sword

Cast brass hilt with relief figural decoration, and hawthorn wood grip. Steel rapier blade with engraving and deep fuller. Circa 1750. The knuckle bow and guard have been purposefully removed and the hilt re-attached. We had one quite similar, around 20 years ago, which came with an old article from a Connoisseur journal, It described, what was called, a boot or cloak sword. In the days of the threat by highwaymen, when a gentleman may have the need to consistently travel from town to town on horseback, but not by mail coach, a constant traveler might adapt a sword that could be easily slotted into knee high riding boots, or slipped into an especially constructed sleeve inside a riding cloak. For in wet and inclement weather a gentleman's flintlock pistol could not function, so without a sword for protection he was dangerously defenseless. Naturally a standard rapier short sword would be more normal, but on occasion, a gentleman that traveled constantly, or journeyed on perilous pursuits [such as a revenue man] might require a more concealable sword that would be far more easily manageable on both horseback or on foot. It also has the unique advantage of being eminently useable as a short distance spear type weapon, as it's weight balance is now very effective for that alternate purpose. 29.75 inches long overall  read more

Code: 13663