An Incredibly Rare, Superb 3rd to 2nd Century B.C. Falcata {Machaira Sword} From the Invasion of Rome Era of the Punic Wars, by The Great General Hannibal. It Is Also It Is The Very Same Design of Sword Used by Alexander The Great & His Generals

A fabulous original historical artefact of ancient Romano Greek weaponry. Used by a high ranked warrior in the ancient Roman Republic period in Carthage. A design so efficient and effective in combat it was as popular in Ancient Rome as it was in the same period in Ancient Greece.
You simply do not often see such a rare and iconic original ancient sword, used by the most famed protagonists of the Carthaginian Wars, against the might of Rome, such as the Battle on Cannae, during the period of one of the greatest eras in classical history, let alone have the opportunity to own one.
Also a style of sword used by the Ancient Greeks in the time of Alexander the Great. The falcata or machaira is one of the most distinctive swords of classical history, and the machaira's design enabled a warrior to deliver a sharp blow from above, with its inverted curve and powerful blade it can be seen depicted in the earliest decoration of Hellenistic attic vases and early pottery from ancient Greece, paintings from great historical battles in early art work of the medieval period

Two similar examples are in the Metropolitan in New York see photo 10 in the gallery

In 219 B.C., Hannibal of Carthage led an attack on Saguntum, an independent city allied with Rome, which sparked the outbreak of the Second Punic War. He then marched his massive army across the Pyrenees and Alps into central Italy in what would be remembered as one of the most famous campaigns in history. After a string of victories, the most notable coming at Cannae in 216 B.C., Hannibal had gained a foothold in southern Italy, but declined to mount an attack on Rome itself. The Romans rebounded, however, driving the Carthaginians out of Spain and launching an invasion of North Africa. In 203 B.C., Hannibal abandoned the struggle in Italy to defend North Africa, and he suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Publius Cornelius Scipio at Zama the following year. Though the treaty concluding the Second Punic War put an end to Carthage’s status as an imperial power, Hannibal continued to pursue his lifelong dream of destroying Rome up until his death in 183 B.C. This is simply a stunning and rare original Iberian single -edged Falcata of the 3rd-2nd century BC and later. A single-edged machaira sword of falcata type, with curved hilt of regular geometric shape, lateral iron guard (later addition); grooves on one side of the upper part of blade; three circular rivets of circular section which fastened the organic handle to the hilt. Weighing approx 630 grams , almost 22 inches long, and in nice condition for age.

A fine example piece, from the ancient Roman period over 2000 years old. Although this sword is now in an obvious ancient, and historical, russetted condition, with some elements lacking, every item made of iron from this era, such as the rarest of swords and daggers, even in the Royal Collection, are in this very same state of preservation.

See Quesada Sanz, F.,El armamento Ibérico, Madrid, 1991; Quesada Sanz, F., Arma y símbolo: la falcata Ibérica, Alicante, 1992; Quesada Sanz, F., ‘Patterns of interaction, Celtic and Iberian weapons in Iron Age Spain’ in Celtic connections, volume 2, papers from the Tenth International Congress of Celtic Studies, Edinburgh, 1995, Edinburgh, 2005; a similar specimen with a near identical hilt is the Iberian Falcata from Cerro Muriano (Córdoba, Spain) which is preserved in the Copper Museum of Córdoba (III-II century BC).
Since the 5th-4th century BC, the Iberian warriors armed themselves with round shields and single edged swords (falcatas) that were the Etruscan version of the Greek machaira. The latter type of sword was duly transformed into a completely new type, with a different size, shape and function, the falcata, already in use in the Iberian area by c. 490 BC. This type of curved, slashing, single-edged sword is generally accepted by the scholars as the 'national' weapon of the Iberians, and was commonly used in the Iberian Peninsula, worn by the warriors usually suspended on the left side in a scabbard to which was often attached a short knife. It was a terrifying cut-and-thrust sword, with an average blade length of 45cm. General Commander-in-Chief of the Carthaginian army, Hannibal was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded Carthage's main forces against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. He is widely considered one of the greatest military commanders in human history. His father, Hamilcar Barca, was a leading Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War. His younger brothers were Mago and Hasdrubal, and he was brother-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair, who also commanded Carthaginian armies. Hannibal lived during a period of great tension in the western Mediterranean Basin, triggered by the emergence of the Roman Republic as a great power after it had established its supremacy over Italy. Although Rome had won the First Punic War, revanchism prevailed in Carthage, symbolised by the alleged pledge that Hannibal made to his father never to be a friend of Rome. The Second Punic War broke out in 218 BC after Hannibal's attack on Saguntum, an ally of Rome in Hispania. He then made his famous military exploit of carrying war to Italy by crossing the Alps with his North African war elephants. In his first few years in Italy, he won a succession of dramatic victories at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae. He distinguished himself for his ability to determine his and his opponent's respective strengths and weaknesses, and to plan battles accordingly. Hannibal's well-planned strategies allowed him to conquer several Italian cities allied to Rome. Hannibal occupied most of southern Italy for 15 years, but could not win a decisive victory, as the Romans led by Fabius Maximus avoided confrontation with him, instead waging a war of attrition. A counter-invasion of North Africa led by Scipio Africanus forced him to return to Carthage. Scipio eventually defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama, having previously driven Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal out of the Iberian Peninsula. As with all our items it comes complete with our certificate of authenticity.  read more

Code: 23521

A Most Rare & Superb, Original, Imperial Roman Legionary's & Cavalryman's Spatha Long Sword, Late 3rd Century Over 1700 Years Old. The Very Form Of Sword As Our Tribune’s Ring Owner Would Use.

Made and used from the eras of Emperor Tacitus and Emperor Diocletian to Emperor Constantine the Great. Only the second example we have seen or offered in the past 15 years. A double-edged original Imperial Roman period spatha sword of the typology of Illerup Wyhl, with excellently preserved long blade, long tang, with triple fullers along its length, parallel cutting edges tapering down towards its point, Fine condition. What a fabulous original ‘statement piece’ for any collection or decor. In the world of collecting there is so little remaining in the world from this highly significant era in European and British history. And to be able to own and display such an iconic original representation from this time is nothing short of a remarkable privilege. A wonderful example piece, from the ancient imperial age. Effectively, from this time of almost two thousand years ago, from a collectors point of view, almost nothing else significant survives at all, only the odd small coin or very rarely seen, and almost impossible to own, carved statuary.
The iconographic sources indicate that Roman swords underwent big changes in the later 2nd and 3rd centuries. Longer swords, more popular within Germanic and Celtic cultures, would have been useful for fighting on horseback, but they were soon spread among the infantrymen and massively produced in the Roman workshops, from which they were brought home by many barbarians after mercenary or auxiliary service in Roman army. This, together with the possibility of war booty, explains why the mass of these swords have been found in the territories of the Barbaricum. The graves and the ritual water deposits of the marshy areas of Illerup Adal, Thorsberg, Vimose and many other localities (Simris) have delivered an amount of swords. Illerup has produced fine well-preserved swords, some with rather unusual patterns. Dr. Miks refers to the spathae of the 'lllerup-Wyhl' type I as to a group of blades which in terms of their proportions, dimensions and shape, are probably a mixture of blades of the more classical 'Straubing-Nydam' and 'Lauriacum-Hromowka' types of long Roman swords. They are one of the most complicated category of Late Roman swords and therefore difficult to clearly identify.
The Spatha was first introduced to the Romans by Celtic Mercenaries during the Second Punic War. The Celts would have used weaponry and armour from their homeland, and one of the Celtic weapons would have been the Spatha. Many believe that the Spatha was adopted by the Romans due to contact with Germania, however this is not true.

The earlier gladius sword was gradually replaced by the spatha from the late 2nd to the 3rd century. From the early 3rd century, legionaries and cavalrymen began to wear their swords on the left side, perhaps because the scutum had been abandoned and the spatha had replaced the gladius.

In the imperial period, the Romans adopted the original Greek term, spáthē (σπάθη), as spatha, which still carried the general meaning of any object considered long and flat. Spatha appears first in Pliny and then Seneca with different meanings: a spatula, a metal-working implement, a palm-leaf and so on. There is no hint of any native Roman sword called a spatha.

Referring to an actual sword, the term first appears in the pages of Tacitus with reference to an incident of the early empire. The British king, Caractacus, having rebelled, found himself trapped on a rocky hill, so that if he turned one way he encountered the gladii of the legionaries, and if the other, the spathae of the auxiliaries. There is no indication in Tacitus that they were cavalry.

The next mention of spathae is in the 5th century, by Vegetius, now as a weapon carried by infantry. The term "Roman Iron Age" refers approximately to the time of the Roman Empire in north Europe, which was outside the jurisdiction of the empire, but, judging from the imported Roman artifacts, was influenced by Roman civilization. One source of artifacts from this period are the bogs of Schleswig, Holstein and Denmark. Objects were deliberately broken and thrown into the bog in the belief that they could go with a deceased chief on his voyage to a better place.

A cache of 90 swords was found at Nydam Mose in Denmark in 1858. They were in the form of the spatha and therefore have been classified as "Roman swords". They are dated to the 3rd to 4th centuries. Many connect the Nydam cache with the sword of Beowulf, who was supposed to be a contemporary. See two photos of these in the gallery. Another photo in the gallery is of a depiction of Roman spartha swords, with hilts fashioned in the shape of eagles' heads, in Roman carved statuary (Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs, c. AD 300) in Venice.
This is the typical sword used to great effect, for example at the Battle of Cibalae
The Battle of Cibalae was fought in 316 between the two Roman emperors Constantine I (r. 306–337) and Licinius (r. 308–324). The site of the battle near the town of Cibalae in the Roman province of Pannonia Secunda, was approximately 350 kilometers within the territory of Licinius. Constantine won a resounding victory, despite being outnumbered.
The opposing armies met on the plain between the rivers Sava and Drava near the town of Cibalae. The battle lasted all day. The battle opened with Constantine's forces arrayed in a defile adjacent to mountain slopes. The army of Licinius was stationed on lower ground nearer the town of Cibalae, Licinius took care to secure his flanks. As the infantry of Constantine needed to move forward through broken ground the cavalry was thrown out ahead, to act as a screen. Constantine moved his formation down on to the more open ground and advanced against the awaiting Licinians. Following a period of skirmishing and intense missile fire at a distance, the opposing main bodies of infantry met in close combat and fierce hand-to-hand fighting ensued. This battle of attrition was ended, late in the day, when Constantine personally led a cavalry charge from the right wing of his army. The charge was decisive, Licinius' ranks were broken. As many as 20,000 of Licinius' troops were killed in the hard-fought battle. The surviving cavalry of the defeated army accompanied Licinius when he fled the field under the cover of darkness.

See Bishop, M.C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment, from the Punic wars to the fall of Rome, London, 1993; Miks, C., Studien zur Romischen Schwertbewaffnung in der Kaiserzeit, I-II Banden, Rahden, 2007; D’Amato, R., Roman army Units in the Western Provinces, Oxford, 2019; for very similar specimens see Miks, 2007, n.A146,36,37,43 (Illerup).Blade weight 1.1 kg, 98.5cm (38 3/4"). In the world of collecting early weaponry a sword is defined as it’s blade, it’s hilt was separate often made of vulnerable woods and materials that do not survive the ravages of time. You simply do not often see such rare and iconic original ancient swords used by one of the most famed empires in the world, during the period of one of the greatest eras in classical history, let alone have the opportunity to own one. We will include for the new owner a complimentary wooden display stand, but this amazing ancient artefact of antiquity would also look spectacular mounted within a bespoke case frame, or, on a fine cabinet maker constructed display panel.  read more

Code: 23517

A Superb Ancient Greek Bronze Scholar’s Tablet Ring From The Time of Alexander the Great Circa 340 BC. Engraved With Symbolic Crosshatching Of Stylized Pre-Euclidean Geometry, And In The Proportions of A Greek Stele. From the Greek στήλη

Another collection of fine antiquities will be added soon, including this most rare scholar’s tablet ring from the time of Alexander the Great. A ring as could be worn by such as one of the greatest philosophers in history, Aristoteles. Very fine naturally aged bronze ring, in rectangular tablet form, with crosshatch engraving of stylized pre-Euclidean geometry

The great philosopher Aristoteles taught Alexander the Great in Naoussa
In the year 342 bc King Philip II of Macedonia invited. in the area of Naoussa, the great philosopher Aristoteles to educate his 13 year old son Alexander, who will be later known throughout the world as Alexander the Great.
Aristoteles accepted to undertake the education of Alexander and the children of Macedonian nobles in the Temple of the Nymphs near Naoussa. Many of these students would become Alexander’s friends and future generals. Aristotle taught Alexander and his friends about medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. Under Aristotle’s tutelage, Alexander developed a passion for the works of Homer. Aristotle gave him an annotated copy, which Alexander later carried on his campaigns.
This location of the Temple of the Nymphs near Naoussa is rounded with nature, trees, a river and a small swamps. Walking through the nature the philosopher Aristoteles taught Alexander using the epic poems of Homer.
The location is an incredible area that has more than 2300 years of history.

Alexander the Great himself famously wore jewelry that was full of imagery and symbolism. He frequently commissioned and wore jewelry, of bronze, silver and gold, with themes that celebrated his divinity, his victories, and his idea of a unified universe. He expressed his divine background and goals by using mythical creatures. Additionally, to emphasize his status as a monarch.

Steles have also been used to publish laws and decrees, to record a ruler's exploits and honours, to mark sacred territories, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument. The surface of the stele often has text, ornamentation, or both.

Picture in the gallery of Stele of Arniadas.

Every single item from The Lanes Armoury is accompanied by our unique Certificate of Authenticity. Part of our continued dedication to maintain the standards forged by us over the past 100 years of our family’s trading, as Britain’s oldest established, and favourite, armoury and gallery  read more

Code: 25437

A Beautiful Ancient Viking War Hammer. An Iron Hammer-Axe From 900 to 1000 Years Old in Fabulously Preserved Condition

An iron war hammer-axehead with wide bearded blade, round socket and a rounded hammer section with expanded end extension to the rear.

In 793, terror descended on the coast of Northumbria as armed raiders attacked the defenceless monastery of St Cuthbert on Lindisfarne. The terrified monks watched helplessly as the invaders made off with a haul of treasure and a clutch of captives. It was the first recorded raid by the Vikings, seaborne pirates from Scandinavia who would prey on coastal communities in north-western Europe for more than two centuries and create for themselves a reputation as fierce and pitiless warriors. The Anglo-Saxon cleric Alcuin of York wrote dramatically of the Lindisfarne raid that the church was spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments given as a prey to pagan peoples and subsequent (mainly Christian) writers and chroniclers lost few opportunities to demonise the (mainly pagan) Vikings. Yet, though they undeniably carried out very destructive and violent attacks, from small-scale raids against churches to major campaigns involving thousands of warriors, the Vikings formed part of a complex and often sophisticated Scandinavian culture. As well as raiders they were traders, reaching as far east as the rivers of Russia and the Caspian Sea; explorers, sending ships far across the Atlantic to land on the coastline of North America five centuries before Columbus; poets, composing verse and prose sagas of great power, and artists, creating works of astonishing beauty.Their victims did not refer to them as Vikings. That name came later, becoming popularised by the 11th century and possibly deriving from the word vik, which in the Old Norse language the Vikings spoke means bay or inlet. Instead they were called Dani (Danes) there was no sense at the time that this should refer only to the inhabitants of what we now call Denmark pagani (pagans) or simply Normanni Northmen In medieval Scandinavian languages, a Vikingr is a pirate, a freebooter who seeks wealth either by ship-borne raids on foreign coasts or by waylaying more peaceful seafarers in home waters. There is also an abstract noun Viking, meaning ‘the act of going raiding overseas

In the world of collecting early weaponry an axe is defined as it’s head, it’s haft was separate often made of vulnerable woods that can not survive the ravages of time.

One of the most famous Viking axes is Helm (named after the Norse death goddess), which belonged to King Magnus of Norway and Denmark. He is said to have inherited the weapon from his father, Olav Haraldsson of Norway, whose ax features prominently in Norway’s national coat of arms. Some Viking axes if they were wielded by a particularly strong and skilled warrior could even cut through chainmail and helmets. When King Magnus’s poet credited the king with being able to split heads like firewood, he wasn’t necessarily being hyperbolic. Writing about the pre-Viking Franks and their use of throwing axes, the Francisca, Procopius makes it clear that the Franks threw their axes immediately before hand to hand combat with the purpose of breaking shields and disrupting the enemy line while possibly wounding or killing an enemy warrior. The weight of the head and length of the haft would allow the axe to be thrown with considerable momentum to an effective range of about 12 m (40 ft). Even if the edge of the blade were not to strike the target, the weight of the iron head could cause injury. The francisca also had a psychological effect, in that, on the throwing of the francisca, the enemy might turn and run in the fear that another volley was coming. It is most logical that the Vikings may well have adopted this system of axe throwing combat from the earlier Franks, as it seemed most effective in numerous combat arenas.

For reference of type see; Cf. Sedov, B.B. Finno-Ugri i Balti v Epokhi Srednevekovija, 1987, table CXXIV 7".  read more

Code: 25459

A Very Impressive, Attractive, & Massive, Sukashi, Japanese Yanone {Arrow} Yanagi-Ba (Willow Leaf) With Long Tang. With Pierced Boar's Eye and Flower Head Clan Mon Likely a Presentation Piece

A beautiful very large arrow head {Ya} in nice polish, showing just a few tiny age marks. We can see it was re-polished some years ago. Likely Edo era.

Yanagi-Ba (Willow Leaf)
Yanone are very elaborate with saw-cut patterns like Sakura (cherry blossom), Inome (heart shape or boars eye), Mon patterns (family crests), dragons ad other geometrical patterns. These arrowheads are usually signed on the blade below the piercing and above the shoulder. Normally there are characters on both sides of the blade but in many cases the signature (mei) has been almost polished away.

This style of arrowhead appeared during the Momoyama period (1573-1615) and continued through the relatively peaceful Edo Period

The Togari-Ya or pointed arrowheads look like a small Yari (spear) and were used only for war and are armour piercing arrows . Despite being somewhat of a weapon that was 'fire and forget' it was created regardless of cost and time, like no other arrow ever was outside of Japan. For example, to create the arrow head alone, in the very same traditional way today, using tamahagane steel, folding and forging, water quench tempering, then followed by polishing, it would likely cost way in excess of a thousand pounds, that is if you could find a Japanese master sword smith today who would make one for you. Then would would need hafting, binding, and feathering, by a completely separate artisan, and finally, using eagle feathers as flights, would be very likely impossible. This is a simple example of how incredible value finest samurai weaponry can be, items that can be acquired from us that would cost many times the price of our original antiques in order to recreate today. Kyu Jutsu is the art of Japanese archery.The beginning of archery in Japan is pre-historical. The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are from the Yayoi period (c. 500 BC – 300 AD).
The changing of society and the military class (samurai) taking power at the end of the first millennium created a requirement for education in archery. This led to the birth of the first kyujutsu ryūha (style), the Henmi-ryū, founded by Henmi Kiyomitsu in the 12th century. The Takeda-ryū and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryū were later founded by his descendants. The need for archers grew dramatically during the Genpei War (1180–1185) and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū (Ogasawara Nagakiyo), began teaching yabusame (mounted archery) In the twelfth and thirteenth century a bow was the primary weapon of a warrior on the battlefield. Bow on the battlefield stopped dominating only after the appearance of firearm.The beginning of archery in Japan is pre-historical. The first images picturing the distinct Japanese asymmetrical longbow are from the Yayoi period (c. 500 BC – 300 AD).
The changing of society and the military class (samurai) taking power at the end of the first millennium created a requirement for education in archery. This led to the birth of the first kyujutsu ryūha (style), the Henmi-ryū, founded by Henmi Kiyomitsu in the 12th century. The Takeda-ryū and the mounted archery school Ogasawara-ryū were later founded by his descendants. The need for archers grew dramatically during the Genpei War (1180–1185) and as a result the founder of the Ogasawara-ryū (Ogasawara Nagakiyo), began teaching yabusame (mounted archery) Warriors practiced several types of archery, according to changes in weaponry and the role of the military in different periods. Mounted archery, also known as military archery, was the most prized of warrior skills and was practiced consistently by professional soldiers from the outset in Japan. Different procedures were followed that distinguished archery intended as warrior training from contests or religious practices in which form and formality were of primary importance. Civil archery entailed shooting from a standing position, and emphasis was placed upon form rather than meeting a target accurately. By far the most common type of archery in Japan, civil or civilian archery contests did not provide sufficient preparation for battle, and remained largely ceremonial. By contrast, military training entailed mounted maneuvers in which infantry troops with bow and arrow supported equestrian archers. Mock battles were staged, sometimes as a show of force to dissuade enemy forces from attacking. While early medieval warfare often began with a formalized archery contest between commanders, deployment of firearms and the constant warfare of the 15th and 16th centuries ultimately led to the decline of archery in battle. In the Edo period archery was considered an art, and members of the warrior classes participated in archery contests that venerated this technique as the most favoured weapon of the samurai.

One of the photos in the gallery shows how arrow heads are often displayed in Japanese museums.

Weight 201 grams, 25 inches long overall, head 5.5 inches long, 2.3 inches wide  read more

Code: 25461

A Rare WW2 21st Army Group Commander-in-Chief's, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, April 1945 Signed Certificate for Outstanding Good Service & Devotion To Duty As a Combatant.

This certificate states:

“21st Army Group, 1659410 Gnr W Fox 98 HAA Regt RA

" it has been bright to my notice that you have performed outstanding good service, and shown great devotion to duty, during the campaign in north west Europe. I award you this certificate as a token of my appreciation and I have given instructions that this should be noted in your Record of Service. Date April 1945, signed B.L Montgomery, Field Marshal Commander in Chief, 21st Army group.”

This certificate is in nice condition, but with age foxing, and is mounted behind glass.  read more

Code: 25462

Very Scarce British Army GPMG 'Jungle' Box 50 Round Magazine

After the Second World War the Belgian Mitrailleuse d’Appui General (MAG – General Purpose Machine Gun) was selected as the winning design to replace both the Vickers Heavy Machine Gun and Bren Light Machine Gun.

Built under licence at the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield it was renamed 7.62mm L7A2 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), or 'Gimpy'.

L7A2 '50rnd Belt Box' GPMG 4,000rnd Auto-Winding Box Magazine

The design uses piston and bolt derived from the proven Browning Automatic Rifle, with the belt feed mechanism being based on that of German wartime designs, providing for a reliable and robust weapon.

The GPMG can be used as both a Light Machine Gun, firing from the shoulder or in the sustained fire mode installed on a tripod. In the sustained role it is operated by a two-man team, in a specialist machine gun platoon to provide battalion-level fire support.

The Parachute Regiment has always been a major user of the GPMG and in operations from the Middle East, Northern Ireland through to the Falklands, Kosovo and Afghanistan the GPMG has provided over 50 years of service.

The newer 5.56mm Minimi Light Machine Gun has supplemented the Gimpy in the British Army, but the Parachute Regiment still carry the Gimpy on foot patrols in Afghanistan for its superior weight of fire, stopping power and range.

Statistics

Length: 1,232mm

Weight: 10.9Kg

Calibre: 7.62mm

Feed: Belt

Range: Bipod 800m, Tripod 1,400m

Rate of Fire: 1,000 RPM

This item is for sale to UK only, Not suitable for export.  read more

Code: 23866

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