Antique Arms & Militaria
A Superb & Rare, Napoleonic Wars Period ‘Port Royal’, Jamaica, Caribbean Station Service, British Royal Naval Officer's Sword 1805. Admiral Horatio Nelson Period. By Mitchellson of Kingston Jamaica
Particularly rare Nelson period Royal Naval junior officer's sword as it was commissioned for its officer in Jamaica, for an officer that served from Port Royal, the Caribbean Royal Naval port, in Jamaica, the centre of the Royal Navy in the Caribbean from 1655. The Jamaica Station of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy was based in Port Royal, Jamaica from 1655 to 1830. In 1800, Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour was the commander in chief of the Jamaica Station.
Jamaican made Royal Naval swords from the era of Nelson are as rare as hen's teeth, and one may not see another available for many decades, if at all.
For a collector of all things Nelsonian, based around Nelson's navy era, this is an absolute must, it would superbly compliment a collection of midshipman's dirks, regular domestic British made 1805 pattern swords, either the type made for officers up to the rank of senior lieutenant, or the type made for commanders and above or admirals.
Port Royal has an incredible maritime history, possibly the most famous of the maritime world, and at the very heart of the notorious piracy conducted in the Caribbean, Port Royal provided a safe harbour initially for privateers and subsequently for pirates plying the shipping lanes to and from Spain and Panama. Buccaneers found Port Royal appealing for several reasons. Its proximity to trade routes allowed them easy access to prey, but the most important advantage was the port's proximity to several of the only safe passages or straits giving access to the Spanish Main from the Atlantic. The harbour was large enough to accommodate their ships and provided a place to careen and repair these vessels. It was also ideally situated for launching raids on Spanish settlements. From Port Royal, Christopher Myngs sacked Campeche and Henry Morgan attacked Panama, Portobello, and Maracaibo. Additionally, buccaneers Roche Brasiliano, John Davis and Edward Mansvelt used Port Royal as a base of operations.
Since the English lacked sufficient troops to prevent either the Spanish or French from seizing it, the Jamaican governors eventually turned to the pirates to defend the city. By the 1660s the city had, for some, become a pirate utopia and had gained a reputation as the "Sodom of the New World", where most residents were pirates, cutthroats, or prostitutes. When Charles Leslie wrote his history of Jamaica, he included a description of the pirates of Port Royal:
Wine and women drained their wealth to such a degree that ... some of them became reduced to beggary. They have been known to spend 2 or 3,000 pieces of eight in one night; and one gave a strumpet 500 to see her naked. They used to buy a pipe of wine, place it in the street, and oblige everyone that passed to drink.
The taverns of Port Royal were known for their excessive consumption of alcohol such that records even exist of the wild animals of the area partaking in the debauchery. During a passing visit, famous Dutch explorer Jan van Riebeeck is said to have described the scenes:
The parrots of Port Royal gather to drink from the large stocks of ale with just as much alacrity as the drunks that frequent the taverns that serve it.
There is even speculation in pirate folklore that the infamous Blackbeard (Edward Teach) met a howler monkey, while at leisure in a Port Royal alehouse, whom he named Jefferson and formed a strong bond with during the expedition to the island of New Providence. Recent genealogical research indicates that Blackbeard and his family moved to Jamaica where Edward Thatch, Jr. is listed as being a mariner in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Windsor in 1706. Port Royal benefited from this lively, glamorous infamy and grew to be one of the two largest towns and the most economically important port in the English colonies. At the height of its popularity, the city had one drinking house for every 10 residents. In July 1661 alone, 40 new licenses were granted to taverns. During a 20-year period that ended in 1692, nearly 6,500 people lived in Port Royal. In addition to prostitutes and buccaneers, there were four goldsmiths, 44 tavern keepers, and a variety of artisans and merchants who lived in 2,000 buildings crammed into 51 acres (21 ha) of real estate. 213 ships visited the seaport in 1688. The city's wealth was so great that coins were preferred for payment over the more common system of bartering goods for services.
Following Henry Morgan's appointment as lieutenant governor, Port Royal began to change. Pirates were no longer needed to defend the city. The selling of slaves took on greater importance. Upstanding citizens disliked the reputation the city had acquired. In 1687, Jamaica passed anti-piracy laws. Consequently, instead of being a safe haven for pirates, Port Royal became noted as their place of execution. Gallows Point welcomed many to their death, including Charles Vane and Calico Jack, who were hanged in 1720. About five months later, the famous woman pirate Mary Read died in the Jamaican prison in Port Royal. Two years later, 41 pirates met their death in one month. From 1735, Port Royal once more became the focus of the Admiralty's attention. New wharves and storehouses were built at this time, as well as housing for the officers of the Yard. Over the next thirty years, more facilities were added: cooperages, workshops, sawpits, and accommodation (including a canteen) for the crews of ships being careened there. A Royal Naval Hospital was also established on land a little to the west of the Naval Yard; and by the end of the 18th century a small Victualling Yard had been added to the east (prior to this ships had had to go to Kingston and other settlements to take on supplies)
Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us read more
A Most Delightful, Original, Antique Carved Buffalo Horn Hilted Ottoman Empire Khanjar Dagger
this is a typical Ottoman Empire khanjar or jambiya of the 19th century, with traditional carved buffalo horn hilt.
Where they were adopted they had slight differences to the blade, hilt and scabbard. A significant part of a jambiya or khanjar is its hilt (handle). The saifani hilt is made of exotic horn, It is used on the daggers of wealthier men. Different versions of saifani hilts can be distinguished by their colour. Other jambiya hilts are made of different types of horn, wood, metal and ivory. Apart from the material used for the hilt, the design and detail is a measure of its value and the status of its owner. there are 53 different types of Jambiya in the Metropolitan museum Collection, some bear a similarity to this example, many with near identical blades.
The blade and carved hilt are in superb condition, the wooden scabbard is good and sound, but the embossed leather covering is thin and therefore now somewhat fragile with natural age losses.
Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us
Overall 11 inches long in scabbard. read more
245.00 GBP
A Scarce 18th Century Military Style Plug Bayonet. The Plug Bayonet Is the Earliest Form Of Bayonet Ever Used
Short double edged blade, eliptical turned wooden grip and brass pommel and steel ovoid crossguard.
As used at the Battle of Blenheim of 1704 era.
In the early 17th Century the matchlock musket was a cumbersome, slow loading weapon and the musketeers required the protection of soldiers carrying long, wooden-shafted pikes to shield them from enemy cavalry and footsoldiers during the lengthy reloading process. As the century progressed, more emphasis began to be placed on the use of the musket as a primary weapon of the common soldier and as a result, the pike was gradually phased out.
In former times, the usual practice when engaging at close quarters was to fire the musket and then follow the pikemen as they closed on the enemy wielding the musket as if it were a club. A sword or long knife was also carried as a secondary weapon. The use of the gun in this way was far from effective and the idea was hit upon to jam the tapered handle of a belt knife in to the muzzle, temporarily converting the musket to a short pike. This "plug bayonet" produced a far more effective weapon than the clubbed musket and in time removed the need for large numbers of pikemen.
The term "bayonet" is thought to have derived from the French town of Bayonne, famous for its cutlers and may have originally referred to a type of long knife or dagger which was carried by soldiers of the time. The obvious disadvantage of the plug bayonet is that once fixed, the gun cannot be fired until the bayonet is removed. Overall pitted blade.
11.25 inches long overall read more
675.00 GBP
A Stunning Ancient Roman Ist Century AD, Galloping Cavalry Soldier on Horseback, Stylized Intaglio Engraved Bronze 'Status' Seal Ring.
In Roman Britain, at any given time, there were at least 9000 auxiliary cavalry in the province, divided between alae (military formations composed of conscripts from the socii, Rome's Italian military allies), elite cavalry units, and the slightly lower-status mixed cohorts, which contained both infantry and cavalry.
Classified by the seminal classification of ancient ring forms, by Dr. Martin Henig, as Ancient Roman, Henig type Xb. Roman ring around 1900 years old. In copper bronze with great, natural age patination. Beautifully carved intaglio seal detail of wide oval bezel affixed to flattened shoulders engraved copper alloy, with a fair amount of aged surface russetting. Almost identical to one found in the UK, near Hadrian's Wall. The ring was important for displaying the Roman's status. For example Tiberius, who was after all left-handed according to Suetonius, thus displays a ring in his bronze portrait as the Pontifex Maximus:
From a small collection of British recovered original Roman rings, all in excavated condition, found in the 19th century from the same location. Examples of this type can be found in Henig, M. (1974) A corpus of engraved gemstones from British Sites, British Archaeological Reports 8 (II): 90.
The engraved intaglio seal ring was important for displaying the Roman's status. For example Tiberius, who was after all left-handed according to Suetonius, thus displays a ring in his bronze portrait as the Pontifex Maximus: The complete Roman Empire had around a 60 million population and a census more perfect than many parts of the world (to collect taxes, of course) but identification was still quite difficult and aggravated even more because there were a maximum of 17 men names and the women received the name of the family in feminine and a number (Prima for First, Secunda for Second…). A lot of people had the same exact name.
So the Roman proved the citizenship by inscribing themselves (or the slaves when they freed them) in the census, usually accompanied with two witnesses. Roman inscribed in the census were citizens and used an iron or bronze ring to prove it. With Augustus, those that could prove a wealth of more than 400,000 sesterces were part of a privileged class called Equites (knights) that came from the original nobles that could afford a horse. The Equites were middle-high class and wore a bronze or gold ring to prove it, with the famous Angusticlavia (a tunic with an expensive red-purple twin line). Senators (those with a wealth of more than 1,000,000 sesterces) also used the gold ring and the Laticlave, a broad band of purple in the tunic.
So the rings were very important to tell from a glimpse of eye if a traveller was a citizen, an equites or a senator, or legionary. People sealed and signed letters with the rings and its falsification could bring death.
The fugitive slaves didn’t have rings but iron collars with texts like “If found, return me to X” which also helped to recognise them. The domesticus slaves (the ones that lived in houses) didn’t wore the collar but sometimes were marked. A ring discovered 50 years ago is now believed to possibly be the ring of Pontius Pilate himself, and it was the same copper-bronze form ring as is this one, with identical stylized engraving.
Limestone architectural fragment; a door jamb, part of a doorway. From the temple of Set (which was built by Thutmosis III) at Ombos, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum
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
395.00 GBP
Original, & Beautiful 11th to 12th Century Bronze Knights Templar Christian Pectoral Cross Patee {Formee}
Original, Knights Templar cross pattee formee from our original ancient arrow heads, spears, lead sling bullets, antiquities and rings from an 1820 Grand Tour classical collection, collected from Europe and the Middle East. Very likely, a so called ‘Warrior of Christ’, such as the Knight's Templar and Knight’s of St John of Jerusalem. After the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291 (the city of Jerusalem had fallen in 1187), the Knights of St, John were confined to the County of Tripoli and, when Acre was captured in 1291, the order sought refuge in the Kingdom of Cyprus. Finding themselves becoming enmeshed in Cypriot politics, their Master, Guillaume de Villaret, created a plan of acquiring their own temporal domain, selecting Rhodes to be their new home, part of the Byzantine empire. His successor, Foulques de Villaret, executed the plan, and on 15 August 1310, after more than four years of campaigning, the city of Rhodes surrendered to the knights. They also gained control of a number of neighbouring islands and the Anatolian port of Halicarnassus and the island of Kastellorizo.
Pope Clement V dissolved the Hospitallers' rival order, the Knights Templar, in 1312 with a series of papal bulls, including the Ad providam bull that turned over much of their property to the Hospitallers.
The holdings were organised into eight "Tongues" or Langues, one each in Crown of Aragon, Auvergne, Crown of Castile, Kingdom of England, France, Holy Roman Empire, Italy and Provence. Each was administered by a Prior or, if there was more than one priory in the langue, by a Grand Prior.
At Rhodes, and later Malta, the resident knights of each langue were headed by a baili. The English Grand Prior at the time was Philip De Thame, who acquired the estates allocated to the English langue from 1330 to 1358. In 1334, the Knights of Rhodes defeated Andronicus and his Turkish auxiliaries. In the 14th century, there were several other battles in which they fought.
In 1374, the Knights took over the defence of Smyrna, conquered by a crusade in 1344. They held it until it was besieged and taken by Timur in 1402.
On Rhodes the Hospitallers, by then also referred to as the Knights of Rhodes, were forced to become a more militarized force, fighting especially with the Barbary pirates. They withstood two invasions in the 15th century, one by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and another by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 1480 who, after capturing Constantinople and defeating the Byzantine Empire in 1453, made the Knights a priority target .Good condition for age, with superbly well surviving armourers stamps. Early Christian Knight’s symbols of crucifixes symbols, and variations, can be still be seen chiselled into stone in the numerous remains of Templar Knights or Christian knight’s castle sites in the Holy Land, the Mediterranean and France.
Two photos in the gallery of two of the same Templar carved stone cross pattee, in France, from the 11th to 13th century. France, Val d'Oise, Omerville, croix pattée, monolithic cross,carved from limestone, dating from the 11th to the 13th century. France,Val d'Oise,Villers-en-Arthies,Croix du Gros Poirier, croix pattée,monolithic cross,carved from limestone,dating from the 11th to the 13th century
Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us 4.4 cm by 3.4 cm. read more
365.00 GBP
A Magnificent Ancient Greek Wreath of Victory, A Crown of Hammered Gold. From the Era of Alexander The Great. Circa 300 BC. Now Re-Assembled For Our Display
An original fine sheet gold Wreath of Victory, Around 2300 years old, reassembled in our workshop over two weeks.
It is now been thus re-assembled, and display framed flat under glass, it is a magnificent historic wonder to behold. Around 2300 years old in fabulous condition overall considering the passing two plus millennia. Likely 22ct gold.
The Ancient Greek Gold Wreath of Victory
was was derived from wreaths of real leaves worn in religious ceremonies and given as prizes in athletic and artistic contests, at the point of triumph. Gold wreaths were fragile ant not meant to be frequently worn, but were definitely meant for display. See the Getty Collection for their partial view of an example of a Gold Crown of Triumph.
In Ancient Rome, in later centuries it was similarly worn on the head as a symbol of triumph. There are numerous, surviving original Roman carved sculptures of Roman Caesars and Emperors adorned with their Wreath of Victory.
The symbol of the laurel wreath is from Greek mythology. The Romans adopted the symbol because they admired Greek culture. In Rome, they were symbols of military victory.
Military commanders or emperors often wore them after a battle. Laurel wreaths in ancient times are most often shown as a horseshoe shape.
Greek goldsmiths and artisans inherited their techniques from Egypt and Mesopotamia, however, they managed to create and develop a unique style. Gold became the primary decorative material, although silver, lead, bronze and electrum were also used. Skilled artisans worked the gold in thin leaves
In Classic and Hellenistic Greece it was the advent of the Golden Age of Greece, when Hellenic culture blossomed, that Greek jewellery reached its high water mark. The reign of Alexander the Great saw an enormous influx of gold and precious stones from the Orient, providing the core resources to produce items of incredible splendour. This era was brought to an end when the Roman Empire took control of Greece in the 2nd century BC, bringing many drastic and dramatic changes in jewellery style.
Photos in the gallery show ours as we have assembled it, see photos 1, 2, 3 and how ours would likely have appeared 2300 years ago, when it was worn at the triumph see photo 7, and in the gallery we show the Massachusetts collection gold crown see pgoto 6, fully assembled, and the last photo is the Getty Collection crown photo 4.
In the gallery we show the other museum examples, in exactly how they would have looked when worn and complete. We also show one partial crown in the Getty Collection, our crown is designed with laurel leaves and some oak leaves. The Massachusetts collection, fully re-assembled example, sold in Christies in 2019 for $325,000 USD
The Somerset crown was incredibly rare gold crown believed to be more than 2,000 years old was discovered under a bed in a Somerset cottage. That was the last completely assembled example that we saw and had the opportunity to acquire. It was in 2016. The delicate Greek gold myrtle wreath, which was thought to date to 300BC, was found in a cardboard box in the modest Taunton property. When appraised by a local auction in 2016 it was estimated to be worth approaching 200,000 GBP.
We re-assembled our gold crown for our photographic display, but it will need re-assembling for whatever form of permanent display its new owner feels suits it best. It comprises of up to 100 parts of hammered gold from up 4 inches to 1/8th inch long.
Our example was from a late esteemed private collection of a famous British ‘Barrister at the Temple’ and antiquities collector, acquired in the 1960’s
Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us read more
8950.00 GBP
A Superb Original Imperial Roman Legionary's "Whistling" Sling Bullet Circa 1st to 2nd century AD.
Identical to the few found at an archaeological dig at a Roman Fort site in southwestern Scotland a few years ago, and one of a very small collection of fine original sling bullets of antiquity we acquired.
Over 1,800 years ago, Roman troops used "whistling" sling bullets as a "terror weapon" against their barbarian foes, such as were in Scotland and the Celts in England, according to archaeologists who found the cast lead bullets at a site in Scotland.
Weighing about 1 ounce (30 grams), each of the bullets had been drilled with a 0.2-inch (5 millimeters) hole that the researchers think was designed to give the soaring bullets a sharp buzzing or whistling noise in flight.
The bullets were found recently at Burnswark Hill in southwestern Scotland, where a massive Roman attack against native defenders in a hilltop fort took place in the second century A.D. These holes converted the bullets into a "terror weapon," said archaeologist John Reid of the Trimontium Trust, a Scottish historical society directing the first major archaeological investigation in 50 years of the Burnswark Hill site.
"You don't just have these silent but deadly bullets flying over; you've got a sound effect coming off them that would keep the defenders' heads down," Reid told Live Science. "Every army likes an edge over its opponents, so this was an ingenious edge on the permutation of sling bullets."
The whistling bullets were also smaller than typical sling bullets, and the researchers think the soldiers may have used several of them in their slings — made from two long cords held in the throwing hand, attached to a pouch that holds the ammunition — so they could hurl multiple bullets at a target with one throw.
"You can easily shoot them in groups of three of four, so you get a scattergun effect," Reid said. "We think they're for close-quarter skirmishing, for getting quite close to the enemy." Onasandrius wrote the 1st C. BC, in his book "Strategy". "The Sling is the deadly weapon used by light infantry because lead is of the same colour as the air and therefore not visible, thus the impact is unexpected and not only smites hard, but the bullet penetrates deeply into the victims flesh". Used by Roman auxiliary troops like Greeks, Sicilians, North Africans, but after the Roman conquest of the Balearic Islands elite slingers were always the Balearic that fought in the legions of Julius Caesar.
Together with arrows and catapults, sling-shots formed a key part of the long-range fire of the Roman army.
Lead bullets were cast in the shape of lemons or 'acorns', which would weigh around 1.7 ounces (50g).
Weighing around 0.7 ounces (20g), the holes were around a fifth of an inch (5mm) wide and the same deep.
While the size of these bullets would have made them not terribly dangerous, experiments using replicas of these small bullets showed that they produced a whistling noise while in flight.
It is thought the sound is produced by the air moving over the small opening, much like when blowing over the top of a milk bottle.
This has led some theories that these smaller bullets were used to invoke terror in the enemy.
It is a tactic that has been used by military forces around the world.About 20 per cent of the lead sling bullets found at Burnswark Hill had been drilled with holes.
This was a significant amount of effort to prepare enough ammunition for an assault, Dr Reid said. 'It's a tremendous amount of work to do, to just chuck them away.'
'Even more intriguingly, the mysterious holes proved to confer an aerophonic quality,' Dr Reid said in Current Archaeology.
'In flight, these lead shot whistled, or more accurately gave off a mechanical buzzing sound eerily reminiscent of an agitated wasp.' In Livy’s History of Rome, which was completed in 9 A.D., he states,
A hundred slingers were recruited from Aegium and Patrae and Dymae. These peoples were trained from boyhood … Having been trained to shoot through rings of moderate circumference from long distances, they would wound not merely the heads of their enemies but any part of the face at which they might have aimed.
Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us read more
220.00 GBP
A Fabulous Original Egyptian Carved Wooden Mummy Mask 25th to 26th Dynasty Period to late Dynastic Period
Around 2700 to 2350 years old.
Beautifully painted over a gesso type plaster on cedar wood, with a substantial amount of paint remaining, showing excellent flesh tones, probably bronze insert eye lines with white painted eyes and large black pupils.
Piye established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty and appointed the defeated rulers as his provincial governors. He was succeeded first by his brother, Shabaka, and then by his two sons Shebitku and Taharqa. The reunited Nile valley empire of the 25th Dynasty was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. Pharaohs of the dynasty, among them Taharqa, built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal. The 25th Dynasty ended with its rulers retreating to their spiritual homeland at Napata. It was there (at El-Kurru and Nuri) that all 25th Dynasty pharaohs were buried under the first pyramids to be constructed in the Nile valley in hundreds of years
A mummy mask provided protection – both physical and magical – to the head of the mummy. Masks were introduced in the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181-2955 BC) and were used until Roman times (30BC-395AD). They show the deceased in an idealised form, like a god who has triumphed over death. The use of gilding on masks of the wealthy symbolises the golden skin of the gods.
Spell 151 from the Book of the Dead – the ‘Spell for the Head-of-Mystery’ – makes the function of the mask explicit:
Anubis speaks, the embalmer, lord of the divine hall, when he has placed his hands on the coffin of the deceased and equipped him with what he needs: ‘Hail, O beautiful of face, lord of vision, whom Ptah-Sokar has gathered together and whom Anubis has upraised, to whom Shu gave support, O beautiful of face among the gods!
Your right eye is the night boat, your left eye is the day boat, your eyebrows are the Ennead. The crown of your head is Anubis, the back of your head is Horus, your fingers are Thoth, your lock of hair is Ptah-Sokar. You the mask are in front of the deceased, he sees by means of you. You lead him on the goodly ways, you repel Seth’s band for him and cast his enemies under his feet for him in front of the Ennead of the great House of the Noble in Heliopolis. You take the goodly way to the presence of Horus, the lord of the nobles.’
This text appears on the famous golden mask of Tutankhamun, inscribing an object with its function in order to ensure that it would ‘work’ for the dead king. The spell makes clear that the mask was to protect the deceased (magically) from their enemies. As is common in such spells, the text is a command from a god to an inanimate object – divine authority used to spark to life a lifeless substance.
The spell emphasises the power of the mask to restore to the deceased the ability to see. An important part of the funeral ritual was a rite known as the ‘Opening of the Mouth’, which restored the power of speech, as well as the other senses to the mummy (set up outside the tomb, probably wearing the mummy mask). The senses were required for a successful rebirth into in the afterlife as a fully-functioning person, as in life.
Masks were made to give their owners the power of sight – and speech.
To show how mummy masks have become so desirable and collectable we show two masks sold in Sotheby's 2011 for 15,000 USD and the other one sold for 200,000 GBP in 2018.
Another photo shows a similar mask discovered recently but lacking paint to the face, being cleaned by the Cairo museum conservator.
The other photos are of Amenhotep I and his very similar mask still in place, we also show his outer sarcophagus.
Amenhotep I's Horus and Two Ladies names, "Bull who conquers the lands" and "He who inspires great terror," are generally interpreted to mean that Amenhotep I intended to dominate the surrounding nations. Two tomb texts indicate that he led campaigns into Nubia. According to the tomb texts of Ahmose, son of Ebana, Amenhotep later sought to expand Egypt's border southward into Nubia and he led an invasion force which defeated the Nubian army. The tomb biography of Ahmose Pen-Nekhebet says he also fought in a campaign in Kush, however it is quite possible that it refers to the same campaign as Ahmose, son of Ebana. Amenhotep built a temple at Saï, showing that he had established Egyptian settlements almost as far as the Third Cataract.
Sometime during the 20th or 21st Dynasty, Amenhotep's original tomb was either robbed or deemed insecure and emptied and his body was moved for safety, probably more than once. It was found in the Deir el-Bahri Cache, hidden with the mummies of numerous New Kingdom kings and nobles in or after the late 22nd dynasty above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and was kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. His mummy had apparently not been looted by the 21st dynasty, and the priests who moved the mummy took care to keep the cartonnage intact. Because of that exquisite face mask, Amenhotep's is the only royal mummy which has not been unwrapped and examined by modern Egyptologists.
it was last acquired around 25 years after WW2 and remained since in a private collection
Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us
Just over 20 cm high. As usual with most painted masks from ancient Egypt there is a degree of shedding of gesso {a mixture of gum and chalk powder} dust read more
7950.00 GBP
A Good, Antique, 18th century, King George IIIrd Flintlock Officer’s Pistol by Wheeler, Used in the Peninsular War and Waterloo
Named to its owner, John Vine of Staining Lane. Walnut stock with fabulous age patina, with slab-sided grips, all brass furniture and trigger guard with acorn finial. Made by Wheeler of London. Two stage octagonal to round steel barrel with silver X foresight. A very nice officer's and gentleman's flintlock pistol from the 1790's used in the Napoleonic Wars period, the Peninsular War of Quatre Bras, & Waterloo. The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly owing to the application of modern mass conscription. French power rose quickly as Napoleon's armies conquered much of Europe but collapsed rapidly after France's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. The alliance led by Britain and one of it's finest General's, the Duke of Wellington, brought about Napoleon's empire ultimately suffering a complete and total military defeat resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France and the creation of the Concert of Europe.
The last photo in the gallery shows a photograph of one section of the collection in the museum of Waterloo, taken in around 1900, showing all the weapons of Waterloo en situ, including all the protagonists {British, French, Prussian and Belgian muskets, swords, pistols, armour uniforms, etc}. The museum was founded and owned by a veteran of the 7th Hussars that fought at Waterloo
Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us read more
1595.00 GBP
A Simply Stunning Ancient & Historical Era Greek Leaf Shaped Bronze Sword With a Distinctive Blood Channel. From the Most Iconic Period Of Ancient Greek Classical History. Around 3200 Years Old
A wonderful original artefact of classical history, made and used by a Greek warrior from circa 1200 b.c. A Superb ancient Greek bronze age sword blade with fabulous areas of crystallised malachite blue/green patina. From the era of the legendary Mycenaean Greek Trojan Wars.
The story of the Trojan War the Bronze Age conflict between the kingdoms of Troy and Mycenaean Greece straddles the history and mythology of ancient Greece and inspired the greatest writers of antiquity, from Homer, Herodotus and Sophocles to Virgil. Since the 19th-century rediscovery of the site of Troy in what is now western Turkey, archaeologists have uncovered increasing evidence of a kingdom that peaked and may have been destroyed around 1,180 B.C. perhaps forming the basis for the tales recounted by Homer some 400 years later in the Iliad and the Odyssey. According to classical sources, the war began after the abduction (or elopement) of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris. Helen’s jilted husband Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to retrieve her. Agamemnon was joined by the Greek heroes Achilles, Odysseus, Nestor and Ajax, and accompanied by a fleet of more than a thousand ships from throughout the Hellenic world. They crossed the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor to lay siege to Troy and demand Helen’s return by Priam, the Trojan king. The siege, punctuated by battles and skirmishes including the storied deaths of the Trojan prince Hector and the nearly-invincible Achilles, lasted more than 10 years until the morning the Greek armies retreated from their camp, leaving a large wooden horse outside the gates of Troy. After much debate (and unheeded warnings by Priam’s daughter Cassandra), the Trojans pulled the mysterious gift into the city. When night fell, the horse opened up and a group of Greek warriors, led by Odysseus, climbed out and sacked the Troy from within. After the Trojan defeat, the Greeks heroes slowly made their way home. Odysseus took 10 years to make the arduous and often-interrupted journey home to Ithaca recounted in the Odyssey. Helen, whose two successive Trojan husbands were killed during the war, returned to Sparta to reign with Menelaus. After his death, some sources say she was exiled to the island of Rhodes, where a vengeful war widow had her hanged.
Photo in the gallery of an Attic black figure vase that shows Theseus killing the Minotaur of the Cretan labyrinth with an identical pattern of Greek sword. A feminine figure looks on from the right, possibly Ariadne. Late 6th, early 5th century BCE. (Archaeological Museum, Milan). See discussion in Branigan, K. Aegean Metalwork of the Early and Middle Bronze Age, Oxford, 1974, p.8-21. 15.5 inches long overall
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2750.00 GBP