Terms of Business For The Lanes Armoury, Antique Arms & Armour, & Specialist Books

You can trust that all details of business terms, prices & descriptions of items offered for sale in this shop are current, subject to change without prior notice & replace any previously advertised details.

Importation Into Countries Outside of the UK

The responsibility fully lies with the customer to ensure that any goods ordered are allowed to be imported into your country. This is most important as we cannot be responsible in any way for any restrictions or prohibitions of other countries importation rules and any import duties or costs of any kind that may apply. If an item has to be returned because it cannot be imported to your country, we can offer other goods to the same value in exchange, less any return postage & import costs incurred by us, but are unable to give a refund

Restoration & Conservation of Museum Grade.

For generations we have prided ourselves on commissioning the finest quality artisan restoration and conservation services available in the UK. However, these specialist arts are not to be considered lightly, today they can be expensive, and were always time-consuming, for example, it is not unusual for the full restoration of the internal mechanism of simple antique flintlock gun to approach four figures or even more, and fine gun stock work can cost hundreds or thousands of pounds. Thus we do not actively undertake third-party restoration at all due to the often excessive costs and considerable time involved. The artisan hand stone polishing of Japanese blades, can be expensive and take many months. Another comparison would be the complete restoration of a vintage 50 year old plus motor car, which we have undertaken several times in the past 50 years. It is not unusual to spend £60,000 in today's prices, to restore and completely renovate a car that may, potentially be only worth half that once completed. Restoration is a magnificent art, and often well worthwhile for important pieces when successful, but often the cost far outweighs simple intrinsic value. It is an important consideration to understand when considering such improvements to fine antique pieces. We were once advisers for the restoration of a magnificent Brussels tapestry, that we sold to one of our clients in South America, see it in our gallery, photographed in our shop with Judy in the foreground, Mark's late wife the eventual cost however, in today’s terms, was over £600,000, and it took 3 years. A sobering sum, outside of the deep pockets of national collections resources. When we undertake restoration and conservation of our own items for sale, the price shown for the items purchase amount will be inclusive of all these costs, and we would have undertaken this work often for posterity to save for future generations pieces that may well might have been discarded in their poor, previously un-restored, original and neglected state. We will often contribute towards, and therefore subsidise these costs ourselves, in order to save a piece of beauty or historical significance for this reason.The improvement of 'value' is never our primary concern, and should, ideally never be the principle desire for collectors either, it should be the preservation of fine craftsmanship

Our Guarantee

All items advertised on this web site are of original period manufacture unless stated otherwise. We offer a money back guarantee on all of the goods supplied online subject to the terms listed below.

• Please keep in mind that we sell ancient, antique and vintage pre-owned items, they have been carried, used, or worn before. Any piece may be described as in excellent or similar fine condition, but they are not flawless. Should you be unhappy with any item purchased online, you should contact us by e mail within 7 days of receipt of the goods. The item can then be returned to us, provided that it is in the condition as sent, for a full refund of the purchase price. If an item is not notified to us within this time, it will be considered as being sold. We regret that postage costs are not refundable
• This refund offer does not apply to any goods purchased in error (including errors in translation of the text of this web site to another language), on the behalf of a third party, nor to goods that have been restored, by the buyer or arranged at their request, or damaged, disassembled or tampered with after purchase. Items bought in person, within our shop premises, if discounted also do not qualify for a refund. Items purchased on our premises in person, that have not been discounted, and are returned for subjective reasons, we will be happy to offer a credit note at our discretion.
• We supply items for collector's display purposes only & such items are not intended for investment, actual wear or use. We do not guarantee the fitting of any clothing, footwear or headgear, nor their suitability for being worn. All items we sell are vintage, antique or ancient, and as such experience fair wear and tear and must be considered as not in perfect condition unless specifically detailed in our description. During their useable life they may also have been subject to maintenance and or repair as to be expected.
• The responsibility fully lies with the customer to ensure that any goods ordered are allowed to be imported into your country. This is most important as we cannot be responsible in any way for any restrictions or prohibitions of other countries importation rules. If an item has to be returned because it cannot be imported to your country, we can offer other goods to the same value in exchange, less any return postage & import costs incurred by us, but are unable to give a refund. Please allow up to 14 days after returned goods have arrived for any agreed refunds to be processed.

Descriptions; Every item is described as accurately as possible and based on our opinion, formed over generations of experience, over 90 combined years by our current partners alone. We try our utmost to be as accurate as possible, however, if any errors have been made please feel free to contact us and we will be delighted to amend such errors as necessary.

Acknowledgment and Acceptance of Orders.

No contract will exist between you and us until we have received full payment from you and have dispatched the ordered products. Please note that our initial acknowledgment of your order does not constitute acceptance of that order. You may also receive a payment acknowledgment email from us or Sage, this again does not constitute acceptance of that order.

If an item is purchased but no immediate payment made the item will held for 24 hours on ‘reserve’ but if no confirmation of full payment is made within the 24 hours the item may be returned to our site for sale.

Should we, for any reason, decide not to accept your order, we will advise you accordingly and naturally any monies paid will be refunded. Deposits that are paid to secure an item for future settlement are non-refundable.

Items marked ‘price drop’ or ‘special offer item’ will not be available for additional discount offers or part exchange.

Sales of Knives & Firearms, regulation of various legislation, including Ivory etc.

The sale of Knives, other Edged Weapons and Firearms are restricted to those aged over 18. Verification of age is required before purchase is concluded, such as a personal inspection or an emailed scan of the purchaser’s driving licence photo side, or passport photo page. UK deliveries of edged weapons are for business’s. ****Regarding the UK Ivory Restriction/Ban as Announced 3rd April 2018 and the amendments etc that come into effect on the 5th June 2022.. Nothing we sell will be adversely effected, as we will only trade in items that fall within the exemption criteria, once any item that fits the criteria, has the new June 2022 UK exemption certificate issued.
The June 2022 ban has such certain exemptions, which are as follows; abridged All items containing less than 10 percent ivory, made prior to 1947; musical instruments with less than 20 percent ivory made before 1975, and portrait miniatures painted on thin slivers of ivory and which are at least 100 years old. Similar rules apply to rhino horn, it must be original and ‘worked’ carved and part of another item such as sword or dagger, and made before 1947, although the rules change somewhat now in June 2022 with the new Ivory Prohibitions (Exemptions) (Process and Procedure) Regulations 2022, whereupon it involves a Fee for an application for a UK exemption certificate for an item containing ivory. So we will only trade either buying or selling with such items once the ivory prohibitions exemption certificate ..IPEC... has been applied for and issued.****

The new Ivory Prohibitions (Exemptions) (Process and Procedure) Regulations, 2022, it states that items made before 1947 containing less that 10% ivory, require an exemption certificate, from June 2022, with a nominal or appropriate fee payable

Please note, we are, and have only ever been, a specialist shop, for such as, worldwide collectors, historians, interior decorators or museums. None of our pieces are available to be bought or sold for the intention of current use, they are collectibles for historical or display enjoyment only

Terms of Gold, Silver and Bronze, Ivory and Amber

The expresssions 'Gold', 'Silver' or 'Bronze' relate to, especially in the case of Decorations, to the grade of the award or the appearance or plating finish of metal items and does not imply a solid metal content of this description unless otherwise stated.

• German 20th century officer's daggers often have ivory 'looking' coloured grips, these are not real ivory, just as the amber grips on some types of German dagger are not real amber, but a composite man made material. The term and description of ivory or amber grip on German daggers always and traditionally refers to their colour, not material of manufacture.

Availability of Goods.

This web site is designed to show only items of stock that are still available for sale, but it is still remotely possible that an item could be sold during your visit to the web site. In the unlikely event that an item has been sold by the time that you place your order, we will inform you by return e-mail.

Delivery Charges

All orders are subject to a delivery, packing & handling charge. The correct charges will be automatically calculated via our Shopping basket ordering system and are based on the total weight and or volume of your order some international shipping companies charge volumetrically your location, and our normal method of despatch. Please be aware that we reserve the right to alter any miscalculation, plus or minus, and you will be notified prior to shipping of any changes. If the delivery charge appears to be inaccurate this may be due to occasional electronic issues, please contact us and we can adjust accordingly

Insurance

Although we offer a world wide export scheme, and trust & rely on the various delivery systems used to work properly, it must be understood that items are sent entirely at the customer's own risk. We will package the items well to prevent damage, and obtain all relevant despatch documents etc, but in the event of a parcel being lost in transit we will not be liable for such a loss. Insurance, to the limits quoted by the delivery company involved, against loss or damage is included in our quoted delivery prices but offers only minimal cover

Payment

All payments will be taken in GBP

Copyright.

All photographs on the web site are our property and are not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Electronic Disclaimer.

Due to the complexities of the electronic world regarding this web shop, we reserve the right to refuse a sale if there has been an electronic failure in the description or pricing of any specific item, in any way.
None of the above terms or conditions affect your statutory rights.

Paintings, Works of Art, Art Swords {Japanese}

A work catalogued with the name(s) or recognised designation of an artist, work of art or art sword {Japanese} without any qualification, is, in our opinion, a work by the artist, or maker. In other cases, the following expressions with the following meanings are used:

(a) “Attributed to”: means in our opinion it is probably a work by the artist in whole or in part.

(b) “Studio of” or “workshop of”: means in our opinion a work executed in the studio or workshop of the artist, possibly under his supervision.

(c) “Circle of”: means in our opinion a work of the period of the artist and showing his influence.

(d) “Follower of”: means in our opinion a work executed in the artist's style but not necessarily by a pupil.

(e) “Manner of”: means in our opinion a work executed in the artist's style but of a later date.

(f) “After”: means in our opinion a copy (of any date) of a work of the artist.

(g) “Signed”, “dated”, “inscribed”: means in our opinion the work has been signed, dated or inscribed by the artist. The addition of a question mark (?) adds an element of doubt.

(h) “Bears signature”, “bears date”, “bears inscription”: means in our opinion the signature, date, inscription or stamp is by a hand other than that of the artist.