19th Century, Circa 1880, Victorian Period Classical Figures of Renaissance Knights or the Founders of the Landsknechte Knight Mercenaries

A most attractive pair of original antique bronzed classical military figurines of historical armoured nobles. Possibly a rendition of Kaiser Maximilian I. und Georg von Frundsberg,

See photo in the gallery of Kaiser Maximilian I. und Georg von Frundsberg, depicting Maximilian I and Georg von Frundsberg, founders of the Landsknechte, by Karl von Blaas

A pair that would enhance any suitable interior decor, especially a gentleman’s study or library. In the past we have seen such figures suitably converted into pairs of lamps with finely formed lampshades, and that can be incredibly effective, especially for interior decorators.

Over the past decades we have sold many such similar pairs of classical bronzed figures to such as, Robert Kime, the so called king of English decorators, the appointed interior decorator to the late Queen Mother, and King Charles. Plus to the great David Hicks, another from the pantheon of the greatest world decorators, who like Robert adored the eclectic mixing of decorative, especially classical, antiques with modern textiles and furnishings.

The Landsknechte were Germanic mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line was formed by Doppelsöldner ("double-pay men") renowned for their use of Zweihänder and arquebus. They formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire's Imperial Army from the late 1400s to the early 1600s, fighting in the Habsburg-Valois wars, the Habsburg-Ottoman wars, and the European wars of religion.

Although prone to mutiny if unpaid and divided within their ranks between Catholics and Lutherans, the Landsknechte were well-armed and experienced warriors, recruitable in large numbers throughout Germany and Austria by the Holy Roman Emperor; therefore, they guaranteed both quantity and quality to the Imperial military for a century and a half. At their peak during the reign of Charles V of Habsburg, and under the leadership of notable captains such as Georg von Frundsberg and Nicholas of Salm, the Imperial Landsknechts obtained important successes such as the capture of the French King Francis I at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and the resistance against the Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent at the Siege of Vienna in 1529, while also being responsible for the infamous Sack of Rome in 1527

Bronze and light gilt finished spelter, figurines.
This alloy was first introduced by Sheffield manufacturers in the second half of the 18th century and is a product of the industrial revolution.
It was also known in its early days as white metal. it was hugely popular for sculptures of figures for decorative display, usually of historical figures.

Condition for age very good, One figure lacks a thumb.

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

Code: 25010

A Scarce Infanterie Seitengewehr Model 1871 Mauser Rifle Bayonet With Full Regimental Markings to Sword and Scabbard

The Mauser Model 1871 adopted as the Gewehr 71 or Infanterie-Gewehr 71, or "Infantry Rifle 71" ("I.G.Mod.71" was stamped on the rifles themselves) was the first rifle model in a distinguished line designed and manufactured by Paul Mauser and Wilhelm Mauser of the Mauser company and later mass-produced at Spandau arsenal.

Irish Republicans imported some 1,500 single-shot 1871 Mausers in the Howth gun-running for the nationalist militia called the Irish Volunteers in 1914. They were used in action by the Volunteers in the Easter Rising of 1916, the rebellion aimed at ending British rule in Ireland which began the Irish War of Independence. The 1871 Mauser became known in Ireland as the "Howth Mauser"  read more

Code: 24977

A Superb 'Top Secret' 'Ball Race', A Spare Part of the World Famous 'Little Boy' Bomb , The Very First Atom Bomb Ever Made, and Used in WW2

This amazing piece of history has just returned from use in a documentary on the Manhattan Project and Professor Oppenheimer, as can be seen in the current worldwide movie hit, 'Oppenheimer'

It is the second, 'back-up' spare part that we owned, the first spare part we sold previously, for the infamous 'Little Boy' bomb, the 1st ever Uranium Bomb, that ultimately led to the end of WW2 in Japan, and although devastating to Japan, saved many, many millions of lives, including the hundreds of thousands of allied WW2 POWs in Japanese slave and torture camps, who were to be instantly executed, under Imperial decree, the moment an allied soldier stepped foot on Japanese soil. And, not forgetting the imperial general staff order that every man woman and child in Japan were instructed to kill an allied invading soldier, by whatever means, and every Japanese citizen was ordered to fight to the death, and never surrender. Another most interesting and historical fact, not often known by most today, was that the emperor realised once the atom bombs were dropped, and their god like devastating power revealed, Japan was utterly lost, and what remained of his empire and his people must be saved.

Thus he decided to announce Japan's unconditional surrender. However, considerable elements of the general staff had other ideas, and passionately opposed this decision, so much so, despite him being regarded as a god, an assasination squad under command of Major Hatanaki a fiery eyed zealot, was despatched to the imperial palace to kill him. Fortunately for the world his most faithful and devoted aide hid him in a special protected room, and thus the emperor was able to escape and make his momentous surrender broadcast, and the rest, as they say, is history. In the days that followed the emperor’s radio address, at least eight generals killed themselves. On one afternoon, Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, commander of the Fifth Air Fleet on the island of Kyushu, drank a farewell cup of sake with his staff and drove to an airfield where 11 D4Y Suisei dive-bombers were lined up, engines roaring. Before him stood 22 young men, each wearing a white headband emblazoned with a red rising sun.

Ugaki climbed onto a platform and, gazing down on them, asked, “Will all of you go with me?”

“Yes, sir!” they all shouted, raising their right hands in the air.

“Many thanks to all of you,” he said. He climbed down from the stand, got into his plane, and took off. The other planes followed him into the sky.

Aloft, he sent back a message: “I am going to proceed to Okinawa, where our men lost their lives like cherry blossoms, and ram into the arrogant American ships, displaying the real spirit of a Japanese warrior.”

Ugaki’s kamikazes flew off toward the expected location of the American fleet. Fortunately they were never heard from again.
Although barely 76 years old, it is probably one of the rarest items we are ever likely to offer. A unique survivor of the most expensive and intense top secret project of WW2. A superb, micro engineered gyro ball race. We had both spare part Gyro Ball Races, and the other one previously, that we had, we sold to an American private museum collector. This is the secondary spare part, that we acquired from the late collection of Professor Samuel Eilenberg, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Columbia University in WW2, that we are delighted to offer for sale. The first, 'principle' part, was used during the construction of 'Little Boy' Uranium Bomb, part of the ultra top secret 'Manhattan Project' and evaporated in the detonation. However, there were two spare parts made at Los Alamos, and we were delighted and most privileged to have acquired both of them. The 1st 'spare' part, we sold earlier, was engraved, this second back-up spare part, was not with it's Los Alamos part code; GYRO PT MK3 A. Code L.B.BOMB. That first spare part we sold recently to a private museum in Florida, USA, this, our second example another MK3 A, is plain and un-engraved, and the 'back-up' spare part. Apparently most component parts of both bombs made at Los Alamos code names; 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man' had spare parts, and 'back-up' spare parts, constructed. Importantly, if a main part was damaged in assembly they could not wait the many months it would take for a spare to be made, potentially at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus prudently, emergency spares, and secondary spares, were required. Souvenirs of the Manhattan Project were later officially gifted or presented to many of the consultants and scientists working on, or associated with, the greatest secret project of the 20th century, once the project was officially closed down by the lead physicist Dr. Oppenheimer. For information purposes the diameter of the ball race is 160mm which is within a small tolerance of the diameter of the gun barrel 165mm that barrel was central to the construction of 'Little Boy'. This measurement may indeed be a clue to the relevance to the ball races actual function or use within the project. Unfortunately due to the top secret nature of the whole event Prof Eilenberg did not reveal the ball races specific function, or, even his, no doubt significant, personal contribution, within the project, before his death in January 1998, only that he acquired them at Los Alamos in August 1945, apparently personally given by Oppenheimer. Much of the full schematics are still officially 'Top Secret'. The first spare that we sold was accompanied by top secret Royal Naval photos, and the id plate of the projector used to show the professors, physicists and scientists working on the project, the film of the dropping of 'Little Boy' by the Enola Gay. We show for information only those photos and id plate, but they are not included with this back-up spare part. We also show the engraving, as was on the original spare part we sold, but it is not on this 'back-up' spare. The Manhattan Project was the project to develop the first nuclear weapon (atomic bomb) during World War II by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Formally designated as the Manhattan Engineer District (MED), it refers specifically to the period of the project from 1941–1946 under the control of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, under the administration of General Leslie R. Groves. The scientific research was directed by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The project succeeded in developing and detonating three nuclear weapons in 1945: a test detonation of a plutonium implosion bomb on July 16 (the Trinity test) near Alamogordo, New Mexico; an enriched uranium bomb code-named "Little Boy" on August 6 over Hiroshima, Japan; and a second plutonium bomb, code-named "Fat Man" on August 9 over Nagasaki, Japan.

The project's roots lay in scientists' fears since the 1930s that Nazi Germany was also investigating nuclear weapons of its own. Born out of a small research program in 1939, the Manhattan Project eventually employed more than 130,000 people and cost nearly $2 billion USD ($23 billion in 2007 dollars based on CPI). It resulted in the creation of multiple production and research sites that operated in secret.

The three primary research and production sites of the project were the plutonium-production facility at what is now the Hanford Site, the uranium-enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the weapons research and design laboratory, now known as Los Alamos National Laboratory. Project research took place at over thirty different sites across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The MED maintained control over U.S. weapons production until the formation of the Atomic Energy Commission in January 1947. We also have an original photo print taken from HMS Colossus, part of 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron, that was based in the Pacific, commanded by Rear Admiral Harcourt. It was taken on 7th August 1945 the day after Little Boy was detonated. It is a picture of two I/d profiles of two Japanese T/E fighters that were originally observed in July 1945. These photographs were sent to the Manhattan Project HQ, but why, to us, this remains a mystery. Also, another souvenir, the serial tag from the Army Air Corps Bell and Howell sound projector, that apparently showed the original film of the detonation of 'Little Boy' to Professor Eilenberg and others from the project after the Enola Gay mission. Those souvenirs we had accompanied the sale of the first and engraved spare ball race, and not this one. We show in the gallery, for information only, a Paul R. Halmos's photograph of Samuel Eilenberg (1913-1998, shielding his face left, and Gordon T. Whyburn (1904-1969) in 1958 at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Edinburgh. For example, in relation to the desirability of original items connected to this monumentally historical mission, two other souvenirs were sold some 16 years ago in the US. The Little Boy was armed on the mission by removing the green safety plugs, and arming it with red arming plugs. This was undertaken by 23 year old Lt. Morris Richard Jeppson, who armed the bomb during the flight. For this perilous task he was awarded the Silver Star for his unique contribution to the mission. Jeppson, however, kept a few of the green plugs that signified his role in the bombing as souvenirs. He sold two of them in San Francisco for $167,500, at auction, in 2002, however, the US federal government claimed they were classified material and tried, but failed dismally, to block the sale in the courts, however the presiding Judge ruled that all of the Little Boy artefacts, details etc., are effectively, now, in the public domain and free to be sold at will. We were very fortunate to acquire these fascinating pieces, from Prof Eilenberg's collection, from a doctor and lecturer of oriental studies in London, who acquired them himself some years ago from a dear colleague of Prof Eilenberg. This rare piece, the back-up gyro ball race spare part, does not bear engraving, and does not come with the camera plate or official photos, but we can supply copy photo images of the originals. Plus, an all important Certificate of Authenticity.  read more

Code: 22797

A Unique Leaf From The Published Work of Nicolas Jenson Printed in 1472

A single original surviving leaf from one of the earliest and rarest books ever printed. A complete volume of this work, if were ever to be on the open market could be worth well over a million pounds. Nicolas Jensen, who is roundly considered one of history?s greatest printers and typographers, turned out beautiful volumes from his Venetian workshop in the 15th century. There is a similar leaf from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers by the Jensen Press, 1475. In resides in the Salisbury House Permanent Collection. A great and incredibly rare treasure from the very earliest days of printed text, with original handwritten annotations. This is a Folio. 6pp plus and original unique leaf from Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius's "In Somnium Scipionis Exposito". In Publisher's wrappers. 1 of only 73 ever published folio's that contained an original unique leaf from the master's great work of 1472. In very good condition. In The Manual Of Linotype Typography, the folio containing the rare single leaf was published in 1923, he clearly regarded him as one of the three greatest master printers of all time, alongside Gutenberg and Aldus. To own an original unique piece of Jenson's work, with annotations may be considered by some as one of the greatest privileges afforded to admirers of the printed word. An entire volume would be priceless, or at the least exceeding a million pounds or considerably more. Some hypothesize that Jenson studied under the tutelage of Gutenberg, the man who printed the rarest and most valuable book of all time, the Gutenberg or Mazarin Bible [one was apparently lost on the Titanic]. Jenson worked before the greatest English printer, the legendary William Caxton, and the very first book ever to be printed in English by Caxton was in 1473, "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye" Jenson's story; In October 1458, while acting as Master of the French Royal Mint, Jenson was sent to Mainz, by King Charles VII, to study the art of metal movable type. Jenson then went to Mainz to study printing under Johannes Gutenberg. In 1470 he opened a printing shop in Venice, and, in the first work he produced, the printed roman lowercase letter took on the proportions, shapes, and arrangements that marked its transition from an imitation of handwriting to the style that has remained in use throughout subsequent centuries of printing. Jenson also designed Greek-style type and black-letter type. By 1472, Jenson had only been printing for two years. Even so, his roman type quickly became the model for what later came to be called Venetian oldstyle and was widely imitated. Though Jenson's type was soon superceded in popularity by those of Aldus and Garamond, it was revived again by William Morris in the late 19th century and became the model of choice for a number of private press printers.

Twentieth century commercial interpretations include Centaur and Cloister lightface, and most recently, ITC Legacy and Adobe Jenson. The books of Johann and Wendelin de Spira were printed with a new fount, a roman
type; this was a style of type that is familiar to the present day, but was at the time a radical innovation. A year later, in 1470, a new, slightly lighter and more elegant version appeared in books with a new imprint, that of Nicolas Jenson. In the colophons of books
printed from 1470 his name appears along with praise for his typographical skills. It is here that we see for the first time statements that leave no room for doubt. Jenson hasrightly become famous as the designer and cutter of the punches for the new roman typefaces as well as other founts that for a long time were the standard for legal and
theological works. Confirmation of his status as typographer is found in his last will and testament, written in 1480, where he made careful dispositions for what should be done
with his punches, the tangible results of a life?s experience and work that he wished to be protected. All these circumstances together lead to the notion that it was Jenson who improved the production of movable type by cutting excellent punches, a skill that he
had brought from the traditions of the Mint in Paris, and that he may first have applied inMainz to the long-lasting types used by Fust and Schoeffer.It is only in the last ten years of his life that Nicolas Jenson abandoned his anonymity,
and became prominent as a printer of magnificent books. Executed in sober, almost sculptural layouts they became models for centuries of printing. A famous example is the monumental edition of Pliny?s classical encyclopaedic work, his Historia naturalis, published by Jenson in 1472. An Italian translation, also published by Jenson, appeared in 1476 . The translation and printing were commissioned by the Florentine merchant Girolamo Strozzi, who also took care of the marketing.
Following in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson, whose library contained numerous works on European history, politics, and culture, the Library of Congress has many comprehensive European collections. The rarest of these works come to the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
A special category of the division's European holdings is its collection of incunabula--books printed before 1501. Printed during the first decades of printing with movable type, these very rare and valuable books cover the whole spectrum of classical, medieval, and Renaissance knowledge and represent many of the highlights of the division's European materials. Over its nearly two-hundred-year history the Library of Congress has collected nearly 5,700 fifteenth-century books, the largest collection of incunabula in the western hemisphere. When Congress originally established its Library in 1800 and saw its collections destroyed by fire in 1814, it had no fifteenth-century books. Neither did the collection that Thomas Jefferson sold to Congress in 1815. This is not surprising because the books in the first Library served the need for general literature, and Jefferson primarily collected modern, scholarly editions in handy formats.

For the first fifty years or so after the acquisition of Jefferson's collection, the Library acquired incunabula very sparingly. The 1839 Catalogue of the Library of Congress lists only 2 incunabula: the Chronecken der Sassen (Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 6 March 1492) and Ranulphus Hidgen's Polychronicon (Westminster: Wynkyn de Worde, 13 April 1495). The earliest incunabulum with a recorded date of acquisition is a 1478 edition of Astesanus de Ast's Summa de casibus conscientiae (Venice: Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen, 18 March 1478).
The date that marks the real beginning of the incunabula collection at the Library of Congress is April 6, 1867, when the last shipment of Peter Force's library was received at the Capitol. His personal library held approximately 22,500 volumes, including 161 incunabula. The collection had some important books. The earliest imprint was Clement V's Constitutiones (Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 8 October 1467); also included were a copy of Hartmann Schedel's Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 12 July 1493) and Jenson's printing of Pliny's Historia naturalis (Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 1472).
Gutenberg, Aldus and Jenson  read more

Code: 22403

An Iron Plate Katana Edo Tsuba Decorated With Small Figures In Rain Garb

Circa 1650. Small fishermen towing nets wearing rain hats and tied straw body coverings. With large fauna as a side decoration. With kozuka and kogaiana. The Tsuba can be solid, semi pierced of fully pierced, with an overall perforated design, but it always a central opening which narrows at its peak for the blade to fit within. It often can have openings for the kozuka and kogai to pass through, and these openings can also often be filled with metal to seal them closed. For the Samurai, it also functioned as an article of distinction, as his sole personal ornament  read more

Code: 19525

Original & Rare 19th Century Saxon M.1880 Faschinenmesser Pioneer Artillery Short Sword - Regimentally Marked

Royal Saxon Field Artillery Regiment No.71

Very scarce Saxon sidearm that was only made for one year 1880/1881, in very good condition. Ideal for the collector of rare German swords. No scabbard.

Brass pommel, ribbed grips affixed with three brass rivet insets, steel collar and cross guard, steel single fuller blade, Elmo style blade marked on the ricasso stamped on spine of blade Imperial stamp and Crown A regimentaly stamped


Coloured photograph of the Royal Saxon Field Artillery Regiment 78 in the gallery  read more

Code: 24972

The Lanes Armoury, Antiquarian & Specialist Book Dept. Many Thousands of Books in Stock, Most with a Military & Historical Flavour, Plus, Rare First Editions, Incunabula, Late Medieval Books or Illuminated Pages from Ancient Prayer Books

Just a tiny proportion can seen on our website to buy online, as we have many thousands of books to choose from, and as they are our largest individual selling item, they come and go so fast that individual listing is simply too impractical sadly. If you require a military, or historical book, either antique or modern, please email a request, stating; title, author, and publisher [if known].

Large quantity book purchases [over 30 volumes] can attract discounts wherever possible. We specialise almost entirely in hardbacks, but also military or wartime magazines and journals, both for reference or the study, plus 'coffee table' books.

We also specialise in rare, 1st editions, late medieval books, incunabula and individual illuminated manuscripts, from such as a book of hours etc.

In the past year we were delighted to find for a collector a most rare special edition volume we have been seeking for him for around 10 years. He had been looking for 20 years, had seen two, the last in Edinburgh around 9 years ago, the other at Bonhams Auctioneers in 2012 [that sold for a shade over £50,000 gbp] but neither were quite suitable to his needs.
It was a most rare complete copy of the "Cranwell" 1926 edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. by T.E.Lawrence

The book, signed by Lawrence, was an absolute gem

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom - T. E. Lawrence's famous recount of his role in the Arab Revolt of 1916 - 18, was first printed in the enormously rare "Oxford" edition in 1922. Only eight copies were printed. Lawrence then reworked the text over the next few years, aided by critical commentary from E. M Forster.

In 1926, Lawrence again took The Seven Pillars of Wisdom to print, this time as part of the "Cranwell" edition, privately printed for subscribers. Of the 211 copies printed, 32 were intentionally left incomplete, 170 were complete, lacking three plates, as gifts to the men who had served with Lawrence in Arabia.

The so-called 'Subscribers' Edition—in a limited print run of about 200 copies, each with a unique, sumptuous, hand-crafted binding—was published in late 1926, with the subtitle A Triumph. It was printed in London by Roy Manning Pike and Herbert John Hodgson, with illustrations by Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Paul Nash, Blair Hughes-Stanton and his wife Gertrude Hermes. Copies occasionally become available in the antiquarian trade outside of the UK and can easily command prices of up to US$100,000. Unfortunately, each copy cost Lawrence three times the thirty guineas the subscribers had paid

An advertisement for the 1935 edition quotes Churchill as saying "It ranks with the greatest books ever written in the English language. As a narrative of war and adventure it is unsurpassable."  read more

Code: 15503

A Superb, Original, Late Queen Elizabeth Ist to King James Ist Period Miniature Pistol. Late 1500's, To The Turn of The 17th Century, Functioning Miniature Pistol

A pistol made in bronze, many hundreds of years ago, to fire off for the entertainment of the nobility and their children. Dark blue-black bronze age patination

An extraordinary little piece of rarely known history, from the earliest age of the black powder pistol. These intriguing miniature functioning pistols were called petronel, named after the original early name of matchlock and wheellock pistols, and very much of the period, from the Elizabethan to the Carolean age.

A petronel is a 16th and 17th century black powder muzzle-loading firearm, defined by Robert Barret (Theorike and Practike of Modern Warres, 1598) as a horsemans peece. It was the muzzle-loading firearm which developed on the one hand into the pistol and on the other into the carbine. The name (French petrinel or poitrinal) was given to the weapon either because it was fired with the butt resting against the chest (French poitrine, Latin pectus) or it was carried slung from a belt across the chest. Petronels are found with either matchlock or wheellock mechanisms.

The sclopus was the prototype of the petronel. The petronel is a compromise between the harquebus and the pistol. Early petronels date back to the end of the 14th century, with a crude buttstock. Generally the touch hole is on the right side, and fired by a separate slow match. Sometimes they had small hinged plate covers to protect the priming from moisture. By extension, the term petronel was also used to describe the type of light cavalry who employed the firearm. The petronel (cavalryman) was used to support the heavy cavalry such as demi-lancers and cuirassiers. The petronel was succeeded by a similarly armed cavalryman called the harquebusier.


We acquired a stunning little collection of miniature petronel, effectively toys, and they are the Zenith of original, and historical conversation pieces, especially when one considers they are around 450 year old working pistols. Naturally they were not made with the action mechanism of a full sized petronel, one just ignited them with a smouldering match cord, to create an instantaneous small bang and puff of smoke.
Please note, under no circumstances should one try to use them today. Each pistol is to be sold seperately.  read more

Code: 24929

A Superb Case Hardened Steel Gun Lock Of a Greene Carbine 1856 For the Crimean War Then the American Civil War

Scarce British-Type Greene Carbine by Massachusetts Arms Company
Case-hardened swivel breech action with Maynard tape primer system. Lock marked: Queen's crown /VR/Mass.Arms Co./U.S.A./1856.

James Durell Greene was a prolific firearms inventor and determined to make his mark This carbine lock was manufactured by the Massachusetts Arms Company and exported to Great Britain after being inspected and stamped with the Queen's Crown by British inspectors in the USA. These were used by the British Cavalry in the Crimean War but re-exported to the USA after the Crimea War. These fine guns were deemed to be very accurate but the paper and linen cartridges of the time were criticised as being prone to swell in the damp and consequently the carbine did not find favour with the British Government. The carbine features an unusual "floating thimble" to obdurate the breech and an internal "pricker" that punctured the cartridge. It also featured Maynard Tape priming which was in the forefront of priming technology at the time and the mechanism for this is in perfect condition. The quality of workmanship is exceptional and it actions as crisply today as it did when it was made 158 years ago.
An exceptional item in outstanding condition. Only 2000 were manufactured and a complete carbine sold at Rock Island auction for $6,900 in 2021  read more

Code: 24920

Battle of the River Plate, HMS Ajax Miniature Wooden Barrel Made From Teak from the Ship

One of the most desirable of the miniature pieces made from salvaged parts from British warships, HMS Ajax is in the premier division of maritime collectables.

A wooden miniature barrel made from wooden, teak parts of HMS Ajax, With a name plate thereon. The Battle of the River Plate.

The battle in 1939 was how 3 battleships, 3 aircraft carriers and 14 cruisers in seven Hunting Groups searched for a German raider that was the the Admiral Graf Spee and how the weakest force of three cruisers found her and the action which led to her destruction.

The Second World War against Nazi Germany had been waged for three months. At sea Britain had lost the passenger liner, Athenia, the armed merchant cruiser, HMS Rawalpindi, the battleship HMS Royal Oak and the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. There was very little good news for Britain and France.

In the South Atlantic Captain Langsdorff in the German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee had been sinking British merchant ships since September 1939. Commodore Harwood, commanding Royal Navy Hunting Group G, had studied the area and knew the attraction to a German raider of the rich pickings of British merchant ships leaving the River Plate estuary between Argentina and Uruguay in South America. The Germans claimed that their pocket battleships could out-gun any ships faster than them and outrun any ship with heavier armament.

In early December 1939 Harwood received enemy reports from the British freighters Doric Star and Tairoa as they were captured and sunk. He calculated that if the raider chose to head for South America she would probably arrive in the area off the River Plate on the morning of the 13th December. With this in mind, Harwood ordered the cruisers, HMS Ajax, Achilles and Exeter to concentrate there the previous day (12th December). They met at the pre-arranged time and exercised their action plan. On the morning of 13th December HMS Exeter was ordered to investigate smoke that was spotted on the horizon. She soon signaled, “I think it is a pocket battleship”. The three ships had finally met Admiral Graf Spee and at 0617 they went into action, following Harwood’s orders, “Attack at once, by day or night”. At first Graf Spee concentrated her fire on Exeter. Ajax and Achilles then closed on Graf Spee at speed, drawing her fire and causing significant upper deck damage and loss of morale. Graf Spee's Captain Langsdorff later said, “They came at me like destroyers”. At 0636 Graf Spee about-turned to the west, from where she started her retreat. With 66 of her crew killed, Exeter later retired from the battle badly damaged and made for the Falklands.

By 0725 Ajax and Achilles had closed to within 4 miles from Graf Spee. Harwood then decided to open the range and shadow her. However Graf Spee steadied and concentrated her fire again on Ajax and Achilles. Ajax fired a salvo of torpedoes to encourage Graf Spee to maintain her westward course, which she did, but shortly afterwards Graf Spee obtained a hit on Ajax which put her two after-turrets out of action. Achilles also suffered severe damage to her director control tower from a near-miss. This was Graf Spee's chance to turn on the pursuers and regain the initiative but it was not taken. Captain Langsdorff chose to break off the action and head for port in Montevideo, the capital of neutral Uruguay. Whether this was the result of a confused state because of wounds and concussion, a sense of defeat or to preserve the lives of his men we do not know.

On return home the men of HMS Ajax and HMS Exeter were feted in London by King George VI and Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty at the time). HMS Achilles' crew were similarly feted in their home town of Auckland, New Zealand.  read more

Code: 24923