A French or British Six Pounder Cannon Ball Recovered From La Haye Sainte, the Battle of Waterloo Approx 3.5 inches Diameter

Recovered alongside the farms relic items of combat, soldiers thimbles plus grenades, cannon balls etc. discovered around La Haye Sainte (named either after Jesus Christ's crown of thorns or a bramble hedge round a field nearby).

It is a walled farmhouse compound at the foot of an escarpment on the Charleroi-Brussels road in Belgium. It has changed very little since it played a crucial part in the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

La Haye Sainte was defended by about 400 King's German Legion troops during the Battle of Waterloo. They were hopelessly outnumbered by attacking French troops but held out until the late afternoon when they retired because their ammunition had run out. If Napoleon Bonaparte's army had captured La Haye Sainte earlier in the day, almost certainly he would have broken through the allied centre and defeated the Duke of Wellington's army.

The capture of La Haye Sainte in the early evening then gave the French the advantage of a defensible position from which to launch a potentially decisive attack on the Allied centre. However, Napoleon was too late—by this time, Blücher and the Prussian army had arrived on the battlefield and the outnumbered French army was defeated.

Strategic importance

A view of the battlefield from the Lion's mound. On the top right are the buildings of La Haye Sainte. This view looks east, with Allied forces behind the road to the left (north) and French forces out of shot to the right(south)
The road leads from La Belle Alliance, where Napoleon had his headquarters on the morning of the battle, through where the centre of the French front line was located, to a crossroads on the ridge which is at the top of the escarpment and then on to Brussels. The Duke of Wellington placed the majority of his forces on either side of the Brussels road behind the ridge on the Brussels side. This kept most of his forces out of sight of the French artillery.

During the night from the 17th to the 18th, the main door to the courtyard of the farm was used as firewood by the occupying troops. Therefore, when the King's German Legion (KGL) was stationed in the farm at the morning of the battle they had to hastily fortify La Haye Sainte.

The troops were the 2nd Light Battalion KGL commanded by Major Georg Baring, and part of the 1st Light Battalion KGL. During the battle, they were supported by the 1/2 Nassau Regiment and the light company of the 5th Line Battalion KGL. The majority of these troops were armed with the Baker rifle with grooved barrels, as opposed to the normal Brown Bess musket of the British Army. The French troops also used muskets which were quicker to load than the Baker rifle but the latter was more accurate and had about twice the range of a musket.

Both Napoleon and Wellington made crucial mistakes about La Haye Sainte as it was fought over and around during most of the day. Napoleon failed to allocate enough forces to take the farm earlier in the day while Wellington only realised the strategic value of the position when it was almost too late.

The 9lb British “Blomfield” cannon used at the Battle of Waterloo. The heaviest type of artillery used by the British Army at Waterloo, {apart from the howitzers} it fired a solid cannonball weighing around nine pounds (about four kilos). Cannons were a vital part of warfare at the time of Waterloo, with the ability to rip through massed ranks of troops and inflict terrible casualties.

In 1780 Captain Thomas Blomfield RA was appointed Inspector of Artillery and Superintendent of the Royal Brass Foundry. Three years later he was given responsibility for re-organising the Ordnance Department. At the same time he was experimenting with new forms of ordnance. The resultant Blomfield guns had thicker breeches, thinner chases and a cascabel ring to control recoil, making them stronger without increasing their weight.

The Blomfield 9-pounder cannon, fired a round shot ball around 4 inches in diameter, was introduced to the Royal Artillery (RA) in 1805 as a response to the heavier French calibre guns. At Waterloo Wellington had 157 pieces but only 60 were 9-pdrs, in 12 batteries. The remaining 13 batteries had 6-pdrs and howitzers. Interestingly, the Dutch-Belgian and Brunswick Artillery, who fought alongside the British at Waterloo, used French cannons (known as An. XI Ordnance). Wellington employed his Royal Horse Artillery very effectively during the battle as a mobile reserve to plug holes in his line. For example, with Hougoumont under attack, Major Bull’s troop was brought forward in support from its original position towards the rear of the allied position.

The allied artillery faced 246 pieces in 34 French batteries. As was his usual tactic, Napoleon started the battle with a heavy artillery bombardment on the Allied line to soften up the enemy.

Cannons on both sides used round-shot of six, nine or twelve pounds, but the French also has four pounders. They were all lethal against columns of infantry, knocking down several men at once for as long as the ball continued to travel. Case shot or canister (tin coated iron cans) packed with smaller iron balls was devastating at close range. Only the British used spherical case (Shrapnel) where a shell was filled with small iron balls. A specially cut wooden fuse detonated a bursting charge.

The six pounder round shot was effectively identical for both French and British cannon.

The surface is very russetted by is nicely preserved overall, and it is a fabulous historical conversation piece.

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  read more

Code: 25688

A Heavy Grade 9th to 10th Century Original Viking Socket Spear. An Incredibly Inexpensive Original Viking Battle Spear From The Time of The Viking Seiges of Paris, And The Early Raids Into The British Isles

1100 to 1200 years old. The Viking spear, alongside the axe was the weapon of choice for the Viking warrior. The sword being the weapon of a high ranking Viking and Viking Jarl.

In the final decade of the eighth century, Viking raiders attacked a series of Christian monasteries in the British Isles. Here, these monasteries had often been positioned on small islands and in other remote coastal areas so that the monks could live in seclusion, devoting themselves to worship without the interference of other elements of society. At the same time, it made them isolated and unprotected targets for attack by sea. From 865, the Viking attitude towards the British Isles changed, as they began to see it as a place for potential colonisation rather than simply a place to raid. As a result of this, larger armies began arriving on Britain's shores, with the intention of conquering land and constructing settlements there.
The early Viking settlers would have appeared visibly different from the Anglo-Saxon populace, wearing Scandinavian styles of jewellery, and probably also wearing their own peculiar styles of clothing. Viking and Anglo-Saxon men also had different hairstyles: Viking men's hair was shaved at the back and left shaggy on the front, whilst the Anglo-Saxons typically wore their hair long.

The siege of Paris of 845 was the culmination of a Viking invasion of West Francia. The Viking forces were led by a Norse chieftain named "Reginherus", or Ragnar, who tentatively has been identified with the legendary saga character Ragnar Lodbrok. Reginherus's fleet of 120 Viking ships, carrying thousands of warriors, entered the Seine in March and sailed up the river.

Ragnar's Vikings raided Rouen on their way up the Seine in 845 and in response to the invasion, determined not to let the royal Abbey of Saint-Denis (near Paris) be destroyed, Charles assembled an army which he divided into two parts, one for each side of the river. Ragnar attacked and defeated one of the divisions of the smaller Frankish army, took 111 of their men as prisoners and hanged them on an island on the Seine to honour the Norse god Odin, as well as to incite terror in the remaining Frankish forces.

The Vikings reached Paris at the end of the month, during Easter. They plundered and occupied the city, withdrawing after Charles the Bald paid a ransom of 7,000 French livres 2,570 kg (83,000 ozt) in gold and silver.
Ragnar's fleet made it back to his overlord, the Danish King Horik I, but Ragnar soon died from a violent illness that also spread in Denmark

The spear is a pattern welded blade, and although now pitted as is most usual after over 1000 years it is a remarkable survivor of Viking combat warfare, and a remarkably inexpensive piece of original and legendary Viking weaponry, and thus extremely affordable. In chapter 55 of Laxdla saga, Helgi had a spear with a blade one ell long (about 50cm, or 20in). He thrust the blade through Bolli's shield, and through Bolli. In chapter 8 of Krka-Refs saga, Refur made a spear for himself which could be used for cutting, thrusting, or hewing. Refur split orgils in two down to his shoulders with the spear. The spearheads were made of iron, and, like sword blades, were made using pattern welding techniques (described in the article on swords) during the early part of the Viking era . They could be decorated with inlays of precious metals or with scribed geometric patterns
After forming the head, the smith flattened and drew out material to form the socket . This material was formed around a mandrel and usually was welded to form a solid socket. In some cases, the overlapping portions were left unwelded. Spear heads were fixed to wooden shafts using a rivet. The sockets on the surviving spear heads suggest that the shafts were typically round, with a diameter of 2-3cm (about one inch).

However, there is little evidence that tells us the length of the shaft. The archaeological evidence is negligible, and the sagas are, for the most part, silent. Chapter 6 of Gsla saga tells of a spear so long-shafted that a man's outstretched arm could touch the rivet. The language used suggests that such a long shaft was uncommon.

Perhaps the best guess we can make is that the combined length of shaft and head of Viking age spears was 2 to 3m (7-10ft) long, although one can make arguments for the use of spears having both longer and shorter shafts. A strong, straight-grained wood such as ash was used. Many people think of the spear as a throwing weapon. One of the Norse myths tells the story of the first battle in the world, in which Odin, the highest of the gods, threw a spear over the heads of the opposing combatants as a prelude to the fight. The sagas say that spears were also thrown in this manner when men, rather than gods, fought. At the battle at Geirvir described in chapter 44 of Eyrbyggja saga, the saga author says that Steinrr threw a spear over the heads of Snorrigoi and his men for good luck, according to the old custom. More commonly, the spear was used as a thrusting weapon. The sagas tell us thrusting was the most common attack in melees and one-on-one fighting, and this capability was used to advantage in mass battles. In a mass battle, men lined up, shoulder to shoulder, with shields overlapping. After all the preliminaries, which included rock throwing, name calling, the trading of insults, and shouting a war cry (aepa herop), the two lines advanced towards each other. When the lines met, the battle was begun. Behind the wall of shields, each line was well protected. Once a line was broken, and one side could pass through the line of the other side, the battle broke down into armed melees between small groups of men.

Before either line broke, while the two lines were going at each other hammer and tongs, the spear offered some real advantages. A fighter in the second rank could use his spear to reach over the heads of his comrades in the first rank and attack the opposing line. Konungs skuggsj (Kings Mirror), a 13th century Norwegian manual for men of the king, says that in the battle line, a spear is more effective than two swords. In regards to surviving iron artefacts of the past two millennia, if Western ancient edged weapons were either lost, discarded or buried in the ground, and if the ground soil were made up of the right chemical composition, then some may survive exceptionally well. As with all our items it comes complete with our certificate of authenticity. Approx 10 inches longAlmost every iron weapon that has survived today from this era is now in a fully russetted condition, as is this one, because only the swords of kings, that have been preserved in national or Royal collections are today still in a good state and condition.  read more

Code: 22779

A Most Fabulous, Intricately Carved Keris Dagger With Watered Steel Blade

A stunning looking piece and a most impressively mounted example with delightful pamor blade. Pamor is the pattern of white lines appearing on the blade. Kris blades are forged by a technique known as pattern welding, one in which layers of different metals are pounded and fused together while red hot, folded or twisted, adding more different metals, pounded more and folded more until the desired number of layers are obtained. The rough blade is then shaped, filed and sometimes polished smooth before finally acid etched to bring out the contrasting colours of the low and high carbon metals. The traditional Indonesian weapon allegedly endowed with religious and mystical powers. With probably a traditional Meteorite laminated iron blade with hammered nickel for the contrasting pattern.

Very small area of wood snake body lacking under the hilt. The blades could often be older that the mountings, as they were frequently remounted in the blades working life, just as this one has late mountings  read more

Code: 23766

A Beautiful Early Sikh Khanda Hilt Firangi Sword 17th to 18th Century

Long double fuller straight firangi blade, single knuckle bow and double plate guard. overall in nice condition for age. Early swords appear in the archaeological record of ritual copper swords in Fatehgarh Northern India and Kallur in Southern India. Although the Puranas and Vedas give an even older date to the sacrificial knife. Straight swords, (as well as other swords curved both inward and outward), have been used in Indian history since the Iron Age Mahajanapadas (roughly 600 to 300 BC), being mentioned in the Sanskrit epics, and used in soldiers in armies such as those of the Mauryan Empire. Several sculptures from the Gupta era (AD 280-550) portray soldiers holding khanda-like broadswords. These are again flared out at the tip. They continued to be used in art such as Chola-era murtis.

There is host of paintings depicting the khanda being worn by Rajput kings throughout the medieval era. It was used usually by foot-soldiers and by nobles who were unhorsed in battle. The Rajput warrior clans venerated the khanda as a weapon of great prestige.


Goddess Durga wielding khanda sword, 7th century.
According to some, the design was improved by the Great Rajput Emperor Prithviraj Chauhan. He added a back spine on the blade to add more strength. He also made the blade wider and flatter, making it a formidable cutting weapon. It also gave a good advantage to infantry over light cavalry enemy armies.

Rajput warriors in battle wielded the khanda with both hands and swung it over their head when surrounded and outnumbered by the enemy. It was in this manner that they traditionally committed an honourable last stand rather than be captured. Even today they venerate the khanda on the occasion of Dasara.

Maharana Pratap is known to have wielded a khanda. The son in law of Miyan Tansen, Naubat Khan also wielded khanda and the family was known as Khandara Beenkar. Wazir Khan Khandara was a famous beenkar of 19th century.

Many Sikh warriors of the Akali-Nihang order are known to have wielded khandas. For instance, Baba Deep Singh is famous for wielding a khanda in his final battle before reaching his death, which is still preserved at Akaal Takhat Sahib. Akali Phula Singh is also known to have wielded a khanda, and this practise was popular among officers and leaders in the Sikh Khalsa Army as well as by Sikh sardars of the Misls and of the Sikh Empire. The Sikh martial art, Gatka also uses khandas.

Hari Singh Nalwa was the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Empire (Sarkar Khalsa) under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Times of London wrote an article in 1881 where they not only noted his battlefield prowess but also his success as an administrator and foresight. The article went onto state that "had he had the money and resources of available to European states, it would have been entirely possible that he could have reached the border of Europe."

Despite reaching lofty heights, Hari Singh Nalwa had humble beginnings. Born in 1791 as Hari Singh Uppal, the youngster, like so many others on this list, lost his father at an early age. In 1804 his mother sent him to the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to resolve a property dispute. While there Hari Singh explained that his father and grandfather had both fought under Ranjit Singh's Sukerchak Misl for both his father Maha Singh and his grandfather Charat Singh. The Maharaja decided the arbitration in Hari Singh's favour and impressed by his skill as a musketeer gave him a job as a personal attendant. Hari Singh's climb to fame began later that year during a hunt where his party was attacked by a tiger. In one of the most famous stories in Sikh history, Hari Singh killed the tiger by ripping it apart using his hands, this earned him the nickname Baagh Maar, or Tiger Killer. As his reputation grew from the story, he was commissioned as a Sardar and given 800 horses and footmen under his command.

Hari Singh led his first independant contingent into battle in 1807 at Kasur under the leadership of the Maharaja, Jodh Singh Ramgharia and Akali Phula Singh Nihang. Hari Singh's performance was rewarded by a jagir (land based revenue) and his fame continued to grow. A year later Hari Singh led his first command of an army at the Battle of Sialkot where the 17 year old defeated Jiwan Singh.

The young Hari Singh fought numerous battles over the coming years in Attock, Kashmir and Mahmudkot. During the Battle of Multan in 1818, Hari Singh Nalwa led a division of Sikhs against Muzzaffar Khan. The Muslim ruler put up one of the strongest fights the Sikhs had encountered and although instrumental in the victory, Hari Singh Nalwa was badly burnt from a firepot thrown from the fort, putting him out of action for a number of months. However, he was fully recovered by 1819 to lead the reaguard of the Sikh conquest of Kashmir. The victory ended 5 centuries of Muslim rule and the cities of Lahore and Amritsar were lit up in celebration for three nights.

The conquest of Kashmir ushered in a decade of rapid Sikh conquest, and Hari Singh Nalwa was involved in or led most of the major battles. The 1827 Battle of Saidu was one of the most comprehensive. Sayed Bareli had proclaimed himelf to be a messenger of the Prophet Muhammed tellling all his tribesmen that he would deliver the Muslims from Sikh rule As local Muslim rulers began to heed his call, he eventually managed to command an army of over 15,000 Muslims, ready to raise Jihad against the Sikhs. On 23 February, the Sikhs under Hari Singh and Budh Singh Sandhanwalia met the self proclaimed messenger in battle and routed his army. They then pursued the enemy for 6 miles, plundering and pillaging as they went. By 1834 the Sikhs occupied Peshawar. At this point Hari Singh's reputation had become so widespread that Afghan women used to scare their children to sleep by mentioning that if they stayed awake "Hari Singh and his Sikhs would get them".

31.5 inch blade  read more

Code: 24207

An Edo Period, 1603 -1867 Tanto Tsuba, Tetsu With Silver Inlaid Rim

A charming tsuba with traces of silver inlays around the entire rim. Probably made around 1680.
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. In a duel, 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.

A tanto would most often be worn by Samurai, and it was very uncommon to come across a non samurai with a tanto. It was not only men who carried these daggers, women would on occasions carry a small tanto called a kaiken in their obi which would be used for self-defence. In feudal Japan a tanto would occasionally be worn by Samurai in place of the wakizashi in a combination called the daisho, which roughly translates as big-little, in reference to the big Samurai Sword (Katana) and the small dagger (tanto). Before the rise of the katana it was more common for a Samurai to carry a tachi and tanto combination as opposed to a katana and wakizashi.
46mm

 read more

Code: 24234

14 Million Year Old Meteorite Rock, Impactite (Suevite) of Nordlingen Ries Now Understood To Possibly Be The Closest Match to the Surface of Mars on Earth. Likely The Most Intriguing Conversation Piece & Geological Collectors Item Available Today

From the Meteorite Strike Crater in Germany, collected by an official geological survey. The crater was caused by a binary asteroid that struck approximately 14 million years ago in the Meocene era. It was an impact of a magnitude of 1.8 Million times the size of the Hiroshima Bomb. Which created a single Faunel Event which meant the extinction of all large reptiles. In that crater a German city was built, naturally, millions of years later.

The incredible German town that sits in that asteroid crater, from whence this impactite came, is smothered in 72,000 tonnes of diamonds
The tiny diamonds were created by an asteroid smashing into the earth. So small though they are technically valueless.
Nördlingen featured in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

What a huge and magnificent conversational piece and collectors item, potentially the closest and most accurate example of the surface of Mars today, and since the Mars Rover sampling it is now believed by NASA and scientific research to be the very best and closest match to the surface of Mars on Earth, and certainly the best preserved from anywhere else on earth.

This is a large 14 million year old meteorite strike rock that is also a simply stunning piece of art that would superbly compliment any decor, in any home, both vintage, antique or modern. It would look amazing on a display stand of any suitable material, such as glass, perspex, marble or wood. This is an unusually large piece of molten meterorite rock, the very few pieces we have had in the past of this type have all been small of just a few ounces. Suevite rock consisting partly of melted material, typically forming a breccia containing glass and crystal or lithic fragments, and often thousands of microscopic diamonds formed during an impact event. It forms part of a group of rock types and structures that are known as impactites.

The Nordlinger Ries is an impact crater, large circular depression in western Bavaria, Germany, located north of the Danube in the district of Donau-Ries. The city of Nordlingen is located inside the depression, about 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) southwest of its centre. Recent computer modeling of the impact event indicates that the impactors probably had diameters of about 1.5 kilometers (4,900 ft) (Ries) and 150 meters (490 ft) (Steinheim), had a pre-impact separation of some tens of kilometers, and impacted the target area at an angle around 30 to 50 degrees from the surface in a west-southwest to east-northeast direction. The impact velocity is thought to have been about 20 km/s (45,000 mph). The resulting explosion had the power of 1.8 million Hiroshima bombs, an energy of roughly 2.4 1021 joules. This exceptionally large piece is 4.55 kilos. 13 inches x 11 inches x 3.5 inches As with all our items it complete complete with our Certificate of Authenticity, our unique lifetime guarantee of originality. Photo number 7 in the gallery is a clip from an article on the unique matching relation of this Suevite from Nordlingen Ries and the surface of Mars by
JULES BERNSTEIN in the University of California Science and Technology magazine  read more

Code: 21959

A Good Collection Of Original British WW2 Enfield No4 Rifle Spike Bayonets MKII’s In MKI Scabbard.{ Plus 200 Other Mixed Antique & WW1 Bayonets Yet To Be Added }

In very nice condition, all from one collector, kept in storage since the 1950’s, including the rarest of all a MKI in MKI scabbard {sold separately}. All were originally in full storage grease and slightly different forms and makers of the eponimous WW2 British armed forces Enfield No.4 bayonets, MKII’s, used in WW2.
We also acquired, just two days ago, within the collection over 200 early and mid Victorian British bayonets, including early 20th century mixed world bayonets, and these MKII Enfield No4 bayonets, all from within the entire single collection, that he {the late collector} acquired in the 1950’s and 1960’s, all of which will be sorted and catalogued, when we have time, over the next six months. The antique and WW1 bayonets will likely vary in price from £120 to £395.

Here, and now, we show under stock code 24589, these eight WW2 issue Enfield No.4 Bayonets MKII’s. Act fast the collection was made available yesterday and four have been sold already so far, yesterday morning in the shop and last night online. Only 4 MKII’s with regular MKI scabbards are still available.

They are now priced each, at £45.

British troops pulled off a number of bayonet charges in the brief campaign to drive Argentine forces from the Falkland Islands in 1982. Grunts from the Scots Guards and the Gurkhas chased 500 enemy troops off the summit of Mount Tumbledown in the pre-dawn darkness of June 14. The British suffered 63 casualties in the battle; 160 Argentine soldiers were either killed, wounded or captured. Two weeks earlier a 2 Para private by the name of Graham Carter led his comrades in a bayonet charge against a force of enemy troops across Goose Green.

In the last 20 years, British troops have resorted to the bayonet to break impasses in combat both in Iraq and Afghanistan. In May, 2004, a detachment from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders surprised a force of 100 insurgents near Al Amara, Iraq with a bayonet charge. British casualties were light, but nearly 28 guerrillas were killed. And as recently as October of 2011, a British Army lance corporal named Sean Jones led a squad of soldiers from the Prince of Wales Royal Regiment in a bayonet charge against Taliban fighters in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. After being ambushed and pinned down by militants, the 25-year-old ordered his squad to advance into a hail of machine gun fire. “We had to react quickly,” Jones remarked. “I shouted ‘follow me’ and we went for it.” He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions. Even in an age of GPS-guided bombs, unmanned drones and network-centric warfare, 300-year-old technology — like the simple bayonet — can still carry the day.

A couple of years or so ago Burundi was preparing to send a peace keeping contingent to the Congo and Somalia yet they knew that their army was not up to it and begged for a UN training team to come and train it. On being asked who they would like, they decided to look at the Americans, French, Canadians, Germans and Swedes but it was the British that they chose to train their army because they said they wanted to be trained by the best.

The last photo in the gallery of lance corporal Sean Jones recieving his Military Cross for gallantry from the former Prince of Wales, now H.M.King Charles IIIrd, for his famous heroic command of the bayonet charge in Helmand  read more

Code: 24589

The Lanes Armoury Welcomes Thousands Upon Thousands of Personal Visitors To The Store In Brighton Every Day {But Not Sundays} . Fabulous Pre-Historic, Archaic, Ancient, Antique, & Vintage Treasures, Artifacts, & Collectables Are Added Every Single Day

We are told, most generously, every single day, when the gallery-shop is open, by literally dozens of our thousands of visitors, that we are their favourite shop in the whole of the U.K. Many, when they are returning to England for another visit, tell us they make a point to make another visit to us every single time as part of their UK travels. Just last week one of our regular visitors from China diverted his journey from Beijing to Paris to go via London Gatwick Airport in order to just to visit us for a couple of hours, and then return to Paris.

The story so far of the Hawkins Brothers and "The Lanes Armoury" written by Francis Taylor;

Sadly it is likely the last, true, original 'armoury' shop left in the whole of Britain. Defining the original term of an historical 'Armoury' as a building containing all forms of militaria, arms and armour, from all of the eras of mankind from the stone age culture, to all the civilizations of antiquity, both pre-history, and historic, on into the medieval, the post medieval and later, to WW1 and WW2. Effectively covering from 300,000 years b.c. until WW2. Not including their fossils of course that can be up to 100 million years old.

They were described as one of the most highly recommended visitors attractions in the whole of the UK by the New York Times. It is also regularly featured by many other world wide publications. Hundreds of thousands of tourists and regular visitors come to see them every single year, including, in the 1970's such erstwhile luminaries as President Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. They evolved their company from one of the oldest established family businesses in Sussex, spanning over 100 years, with a client base that includes museums, heads of state, presidents, princes and kings. But whether you are a movie star, a head of state or a student, all will be treated with the same courtesy and respect. Every sale is important to them, albeit a £5 badge a £5,000 rare book, or a suit of armour for £50,000.
Every day they are told that to some, this is their favourite shop in the world, with some foreign visitors returning year in year out for 40 years or even more, so they truly believe they have a great responsibility to their customers, their reputation, and to the amazing city of Brighton.
Their oldest customer has incredibly been a regular buyer, for an amazing, near 70 years.

To view just a flavour of the visual history one can view here, and their modus operandi during the past century of their business and store, please click the group photos to the left, and see just small aspects of their gallery, in photos taken recently, and from the distant past.
One is a photograph from the outside of their shop taken around 1920, another one from more recently, and another, of their 1920's vintage horse drawn pantechnichon that was still in use for local deliveries until 1969 and another photo one of their 'more modern' pantechnichons in the 1970's. The partners, Mark and David also regularly appear on the BBC and numerous UK TV channels, consulting on historical documentaries, and on various antique 'discovery' programs, and act as consultant appraisers and for notable private individuals and public companies. During Mark's 54 years personally trading in The Lanes, and David's 44 years {that's around 98 years combined} both within the family businesses, it is estimated they have had pass through their hands, and appraised, possibly more items than any other living dealers in the country, and their breadth of knowledge and experience is simply astonishing. While in his capacity as export director of the old family company, Mark was personally responsible for the sale and export of over 2,000 individual antique items every single week for nearly ten years. Shipping their treasures within a fleet of trucks and 40 foot container lorries, to the four corners of globe. If you can get Mark to describe some of his past professional trades, you will certainly be amazed. Just one part of his trade, back in the 1970’s was the selling and shipping of vintage classic cars to the States. Dozens of 20 foot containers were sent, containing either a vintage Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lagonda, Alvis, Aston Martin, and their like, with the interiors packed full of antique porcelains and silver and antique furniture stacked on top {in order to utilise every valuable space possible}. Mark’s first personal car was a BRG 1932 Aston Martin Le Mans. Originally raced by Sir Sydney Caffyn as an amateur {who was a friend of Mark’s father David senior}, which Mark bought from Sir Sydney’s brother, some while after Sir Sydney had died, for which he paid the princely sum of £325 in around 1971. He sold it to an Italian-American Las Vegas casino owner for £800 three years later, The last known example he knew of, the Aston Martin 1932 Le Mans LM8, and that he tried to buy {unsuccessfully I might add}, sold recently for €905,000 at Sothebys {somewhat in excess of Mark’s budget}. How times {and prices} have changed!

Of course, these days, after selling their wholesale antique export shipping companies, that were some of the largest of their kind in Europe, for the past 35 years the brothers have concentrated their devotion to being England's leading specialist antique arms and militaria dealers, focusing their core business from general antiques and fine art, to the finest, ancient, antique or vintage samurai weaponry, armour, and worldwide swords, firearms and militaria and historical books, covering the past three millennia. It is now said they are the largest samurai weapon dealers in the western world, and this website is the largest of it's type in the world, including over 17,000 full colour photographs of some of their items for sale.
A recent article, written about their business on 'City News Live' is copied here below, as published;**
"With so many different histories to offer, you can feel freer in Brighton than in most British cities to select trips which coincide with your interests and of course, you're much more likely to find in Brighton things to do which bring the history you love to life. For the lover of militaria, a visit to The Lanes Armoury is a must with a difference. The Armoury's housed in a three-storey 16th century building and is a real treasure trove, it's a museum which is not a museum as everything is for sale. It has been nominated and then short-listed for the British Antique & Collectors Awards as the best Antique Shop in Great Britain and is the latest incarnation of a much older business David Hawkins Brighton Ltd which was one of the earliest and largest dealers in Antiques and Collectibles within the whole of Europe in the last century."

It's their current specialisation in worldwide Arms, Armour, Militaria, and Books, which really marks them out and creates such a fascinating and fantastic place to visit. From antiquities from all the past ancient empires, including bronze-age swords, axes, helmets and daggers, to Roman Viking and medeavil weaponry, to suits of samurai and European armour, muskets, revolvers, duelling pistols, American civil war swords, right through to medals and World War II militaria, it's all there to be viewed and drooled over. For example they had in stock a signed 1st Edition book that once personally belonged to Winston Churchill detailing a story of combat in the American Revolutionary War. It was presented to him during WW2 and signed by it's author, Robert Graves, one of England's greatest WW1 poets and novelists. It was declared by Churchill, in a personal letter to Robert Graves thanking him for the gift, that it was one of only 6 or 7 novels that he had read during his premiership in the war, and subsequently this very book was used by him to advise the creation and modus operandi of the new British Commandos. Also the last time I visited I was shown their first edition The Great Gatsby, an absolute gem of a rarity, that must be valued at many tens of thousands of pounds. It's not a museum, but when you leave, you've had the same experience! I can honestly say the experience of a visit to the armoury, although not a vast premises by any means, is utterly memorable, and every single person that passed through their doors while I was there was either astonished, amazed, or both!

Francis Taylor  read more

Code: 19615

Very Rare & The Most Collectable Bayonet of WW2. A WWII British Lee Enfield No 4 MK 1 Cruciform Spike Bayonet By ‘SM’ (Singer Manufacturing Co) With MK 1 Scabbard. The Earliest, & Briefly Issued Bayonet Of The No4 Rifle in WW2

The No. 4 Mk. I was the first beautifully made bayonet for the earliest Enfield No.4 rifle, with its distinctive cruciform blade. The bayonet and socket were one solid forging.

Only thousands of the MKI bayonet were made, before it was simplified in 1942 as the new MKII bayonet version of the MKI, in order to enable the saving of production costs. Over 3,000,000 were made of the new MKII bayonet for the Enfield No. 4 rifle, up to one hundred times more than were made of the MKI. Production initially occurred for the MKI during the latter half of 1941 and into the early months of 1942. The only maker was the Singer Manufacturing Co. (the famous sewing machine people), at their Clydebank, Scotland plant. One influence in the selection of Singer was that Scotland was felt to be safer from German bombers than England. No. 4 Mk. I markings were reminiscent of how Pattern 1907 bayonets were marked, with the royal cypher, type, and maker.
Socket: "G (Crown) R" over No 4 Mk I" over "S M"

Sheffield Steel Products of Sheffield, Yorkshire. Sheffield Steel Products produced approximately Mk. 1 scabbards. Stamped N64 = Sheffield Steel Products

One of the most interesting points about the Mark l bayonet was the likelihood that near all were used in the desert campaign against Rommel or at the D Day Normandy invasions, by such as the commandos, due to their date of manufacture, but the later MKlls may, or may not have have been used as they were later made and many made post war .
It is further relatively certain they were the issued bayonet used in the ill fated Dieppe Raid in 1942 which meant almost all those MKI bayonets issued were lost due to capture by the occupying German forces.

As an aside, for decades since the war it was assumed the Dieppe Raid was a rehearsal for the Normandy landings, and in many respects a terrible and tragic failure involving tens of thousands of men, mostly Canadian heroes, lost or captured, including many ships lost by the Royal Navy.

Information has now been recently released to reveal that the raid was in fact an incredibly super top secret planned diversion in order to capture the highly secret German cypher machine in a safe within one particular building in the town. Organised by an ultra top-secret section of the SAS and SIS, even the men chosen by the British Secret Service to take part were not even told of the raids purpose until minutes after they arrived to actually carry out the operation. All of the sacrifices made by thousands of men were to ensure the secrecy that the ultra top secret purpose of the plan, that it was actually a diversion, and not a rehearsal, that may, and in fact did, sacrifice thousands of men, in order to save hundreds of thousands, or even millions of lives, in the later planned Normandy invasion. This plans true aim was never revealed, until very recently. And many in command of the war in Britain, were, as such, blamed by the families of the lost, and felt the unending guilt of the terrible losses. Regretably , in the cold hard reality and truth of war, just like in medical surgery, sometimes a limb must be sacrificed and lost in order to save the body. And the unenviable thankless task of making such decisions, can often create a massive tactical victory, yet from those viewing from outside the circle of knowledge, it appears to be a tragic mistake.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, as the chief of Combined Operations, and Ian Fleming, a future James Bond author and naval intelligence officer, were involved in the allegedly disastrous Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) in 1942, a so-called failed Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe. Even today you can find blame still being apportioned to Mountbatten and his aide, Ian Fleming, for the raid’s failure. It is a mark of the stature of such men that in their lifetimes they never revealed the truth, and lived with scorn and admonition, and even unto death still do by many.  read more

Code: 25682

A Sublime 'Queen Anne', Circa 1720, Cannon Barrel Flintlock Holster Pistol of Sidelock Action, With Solid Silver Mounts Including a Silver, Maned Lion Head Butt Cap, and Silver Dragon Sideplate

with silver leaf shaped escutcheon. Three stage steel cannon barrel with chisseled octagonal breech, conical second stage and flared long blunderbuss third stage. Fine jugland regia walnut stock. Horn tipped wood ramrod with octagonal rear ramrod pipe and typical barrel type forend ramrod pipe

Here are some of the specific reasons why people enjoy collecting antique pistols:

Historical significance: Antique pistols are stunning relics of a bygone era, and they can provide insights into the history of warfare, technology, and culture. For example, a collector might be interested in owning a type of pistol that was used in a famous battle or that was carried by a famous historical figure.
Craftsmanship: Antique pistols are often works of art in their own right. Many early gunsmiths were highly skilled artisans, and their creations can be extraordinarily beautiful. Collectors might appreciate the intricate engraving, fine inlays, and other decorative elements that are found on many antique pistols.
Aesthetic beauty: Antique pistols can be simply stunning. Their elegant lines and graceful curves can be a thing of beauty. Collectors might enjoy admiring the form and function of these antique weapons.
Rarity and uniqueness: Some antique pistols are quite rare, and collectors might enjoy the challenge of finding and acquiring them. Others might be interested in owning a pistol that is unique in some way, such as a prototype or a custom-made piece.
Investment value: Antique pistols can also be valuable long term investments. The value of some antique pistols has appreciated significantly over the years. Collectors might enjoy the potential for profit, in addition to the other pleasures of collecting, but that should never be the ultimate goal, enjoyment must always be the leading factor of collecting.
No matter what their reasons, collectors of antique pistols find enjoyment in their hobby. They appreciate the history, craftsmanship, beauty, and rarity of these unique pieces.

In addition to the above, here is yet another reason why people enjoy collecting antique pistols:

Education: Learning about the history and technology of antique pistols can be a thoroughly rewarding experience. Collectors can learn about the different types of pistols that have been made over the centuries, how they worked, and how they were used.  read more

Code: 25007