An 18th Century Flintlock Long Barrel Sporting Musket

Absolutely perfect as an original decorative display piece for the right location. Nice stock, flintlock action [not actionable] 52.5 inches long overall. This would make a delightful original display piece for any suitable location. Under barrel brass plate strengthening supports.The royal forest was an area of land designated to the king for hunting and forestry; it included woodland, heathland, and agricultural land. As of the 12th century nearly a third of England's territory was assigned as royal forest. Only the king and other permitted members of the nobility were allowed to hunt game in the assigned area. To maintain this restriction, forest law was introduced to enforce the boundaries. Special officials known as foresters were in charge of overseeing forest law. The foresters were among the most hated of royal officials as they were often corrupt, having a reputation for making illegal side profits on royal forest property by farming, extracting natural resources, and poaching game. They exacted many punishments for poaching game, farming, and other illegal activities on the royal forest. Heavy fines and imprisonment were the common discipline. While foresters were in charge of the upkeep of forest law, sometimes the king would employ the local sheriff to get involved. Hunting, however, was not the only function for the royal forest. Kings would also use these territories for cattle upbringing, farming, and extracting the land's resources. They also notably served as reserves for all kinds of wildlife. King Henry I of England was known for having a fascination with pet animals. His parks included wild animals like lions and leopards. Forest laws in regards to hunting created class distinctions. King Richard II of England issued the first game law in 1390. It constituted a property requirement of certain value to have hunting dogs or other hunting equipment. During the Regency period, game birds were shot in different ways, though Driven Game shooting was popular on larger estates. Here, where beaters are employed to drive game towards a line of standing guns through woods and over moors or fields, dependent on the quarry and time of year. The total bag (number of birds shot) will be anywhere between 80 and 300, again dependent on quarry etc. The day will be very formal, and gamekeepers or a shoot captain will oversee proceedings. Pickers-up are also employed to make sure all shot game is collected. On such estates, large numbers of pheasants, partridge and duck, but not grouse, may be released to maintain numbers. Shotguns (also known as a fowling piece or scattergun) were improved during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and game shooting became more popular. To protect the pheasants for the shooters, gamekeepers culled vermin such as foxes, magpies and birds of prey almost to extirpation in popular areas, and landowners improved their coverts and other habitats for game. Game Laws were relaxed in 1831 which meant anyone could obtain a permit to take rabbits, hares and gamebirds.  read more

Code: 23478

A Very Scarce French Chassepot Rifle Musketoon Modele 1866 Colonial Inlay

Last used by the French Colonial Spahi in WW1. The scarce French Army Musketoon model, St Etienne. Converted to the Gras system in 1874. Used from the Franco Prussian war right throught WW1 by the French Colonial Spahi. This rifle was laterly renamed the 1866-74 after it was converted to the Gras system. Then in the latter part of its working life this rifle has been transferred to the French colonial troops, the famous Spahi, and over decoratedby them with typical Spahi flamboyant inlays at the butt. We show photos of a French Curassier using his 1866 Chassepot musketoon in the Franco Prussian War, French Infantry using their Chassepot, and the French Colonial Spahi using the 1866-74 musketoon into WW1.

Spahis were light cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the indigenous populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, with personnel now recruited in mainland France. Senegal also maintains a mounted unit with spahi origins as a presidential escort: the Red Guard.he spahi regiments saw extensive service in the French conquest of Algeria, in the Franco-Prussian War, in Tonkin towards the end of the Sino-French War (1885), in the occupation of Morocco and Syria, and in both World Wars. A detachment of Spahis served as the personal escort of Marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud in the Crimean War and were photographed there by Roger Fenton. A contingent of Spahis also participated in the North China campaign of 1860. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 one detached squadrons of Spahis formed part of the forces defending Paris, while a provisional regiment comprising three squadrons was attached to the Army of the Loire.2 A serious rising against French rule in Algeria during 1871?72 was sparked off by the mutiny of a squadron of Spahis who had been ordered to France to reinforce those units already there. Pahis were sent to France at the outbreak of war in August 1914. They saw service during the opening period of mobile warfare but inevitably their role diminished with the advent of trench warfare. During World War I the number of units increased with the creation of Moroccan Spahi regiments and the expansion of the Algerian arm. By 1918 there were seven Spahi regiments then in existence, all having seen service on the Western Front, in addition a detached squadron had served in Palestine against the Ottoman Empire. 11mm calibre, .20+ inch barrel. Obsolete antique no licence required. Its inventor was, Antoine Alphonse Chassepot, and it became the French service weapon in 1866. It was first used at the battlefield at Mentana, November 1867, where it inflicted severe losses on Garibaldi's troops. The event was reported at the French Parliament: "Les Chassepots ont fait merveille!", {The Chassepots did marvelous execution !} In the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) it proved greatly superior to the German Dreyse needle gun, outranging it by 2 to 1. Although it was a smaller caliber but the chassepot ammunition had more gunpowder and thus faster muzzle velocity. The Chassepots were responsible for most of the Prussian and other German casualties during the conflict. Small Gras cartridge adaption bolt head lacking. As with all our antique guns no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables  read more

Code: 21713

A Fabulous & Most Rare Large Irish Brass Barrelled Flintlock Blunderbuss Pistol, Circa 1700's

A stunning and beautiful flintlock, with a lock bearing the maker's name, within a lozenge shaped poincon stamp, of its Irish gunsmith. Through diligent research we can find no other example of his fine workmanship surviving in the world today. Therefore, this may well be a uniquely surviving example of his finest quality pistols remaining and still in existence. This is not to say definitively there are no other examples of his {Master Gunsmith O'Shiels} work remaining somewhere, maybe within a darkened corner of a distant museum, but we can certainly find no trace of one. The fine brass barrel is not proved which is exactly as we would expect to find, for prior to 1712, there was no requirement or legislation in place, to cover barrel proofing in Ireland, and although officially 1712 was the official date, some were finished with unproved barrels for a decade or so later. Indeed following the Act of Union in 1801 it could be surmised that all barrels would be subject to British proof, either by the Birmingham or London Proof Houses. However, this obviously did not occur, but when barrels were imported from Irish cities, they were later marked with the relevant British proofs. But arms that remained in Ireland may have spent their entire working lives unproved. The barrel is brass and its wonderful walnut stock has a magnificent patina. The butt cap bears the Queen Anne type grotesque butt mask, but most unusually this has a double face, both grimacing one way, and sad, when viewed from the opposite side.


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

Approx 15 inches long overall  read more

Code: 23554

A Fine .36 Calibre Original Antique Colt Navy London Revolver, 1851 Model Navy Manufactured in 1855

All matching serial numbers, 22XXX, good spring action, fully engraved cylinder, but, as usual the roll engraving is very shallow and mostly difficult to see. The scene is an American sea battle between the Texas Navy and the Mexican Navy.. Superb blue-black patination with slight areas of pitting to the surface visible. Hand chequered grips. One of the 42,000 superb revolvers made in the London factory, used in all the major conflicts of the day, from the Crimean War, Indian Mutiny to the American Civil War and beyond in the American Wild West era.

The seamen of the Royal Naval Brigade were initially issued with the Colt Pattern 1851 ‘Navy’ revolver. Over 9,600 were acquired by the Royal Navy during the Crimean War. we show in the gallery an identical example that was used in the Crimean War now in a museum collection. another painting in the gallery of a guards officer using his same Colt in battle in the Crimea.

The designation "Colt 1851 Navy" was designated by collectors, though the popular name "Navy Revolver" is of early origin, as the gun was frequently called the "Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Caliber." The cylinder was often engraved with a scene of the victory of the Second Texas Navy at the Battle of Campeche in May 16, 1843. The Texas Navy had purchased the earlier Colt Paterson Revolver, but this was Colt's first major success in the gun trade; the naval theme of the engraved cylinder of the Colt 1851 Navy revolver was Colt's gesture of appreciation. Despite the "Navy" designation, the revolver was chiefly purchased by civilians and military land forces. Famous "Navy" users included Wild Bill Hickok, William Buffalo Bill Cody, John Henry "Doc" Holliday, Richard Francis Burton, Ned Kelly, Bully Hayes, Richard H. Barter, Robert E. Lee, Nathan B. Forrest, John O'Neill, Frank Gardiner, Quantrill's Raiders, John Coffee "Jack" Hays, "Bigfoot" Wallace, Frederick Townsend Ward, Ben McCulloch, Addison Gillespie, John "Rip" Ford, "Sul" Ross and most Texas Rangers prior to the Civil War. Usage continued long after more modern cartridge revolvers were introduced in 1873. Wild Bill Hickok was a legendary character in the Old West and a great exponent of the Colt Navy 1851. Wild Bill arrived in the West initially as a stage coach driver and later became a Lawman in the territories around Kansas and Nebraska. He fought during the American Civil War on the side of the Union Army and achieved renown afterwards as a scout, gambler and gunfighter. During his time as a Lawman Wild Bill engaged in many shootouts, and with his Colt Navy 1851 he was a very accurate and deadly shot, more so as he always remained calm, cool and collected in a shoot out, whilst the other party was nervous and scared. Hickok's guns were inscribed they also had ivory handles and were quite special pieces. Apparently they were both engraved with the words J.B. Hickok 1869. He was presented the guns in 1869 by Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts for his services as scout for a hunting trip. It was said to have been remarked by a Colt Navy owner "A Gentleman would not want to appear armed, but would not be so foolish as to go unarmed.

However, the most famous gunman who favoured the Navy above other arms was James Butler (“Wild Bill”) Hickok. He was fast and deadly, and long before he was murdered in Deadwood, Dakota Territory in 1876, he had acquired the title “Prince of Pistoleers.”
The 1851 Navy is believed to have been Sam Colt’s personal favorite. The evidence is derived from the only image of Colt with a weapon. The revolver that is in that picture is the Navy. Colt’s personal revolvers seemed to have been an engraved pair of Navies with ivory grips displaying a horse head. In addition to the portrait, Colt favored the Navy for presentation to individuals who could help his business. Among the many recipients of these beautifully engraved gifts were President Franklin Pierce, Secretary of War John B. Floyd, Sam Houston, Czar Nicholas, and Colonel Thomas Lally.

42’000 were produced in London, England, with state-of-the-art machines and dedicated production lines; back then the most technologically advanced factories in the world. The designation "Colt 1851 Navy" was designated by collectors, though the popular name "Navy Rev." is of early origin, as the gun was frequently called the "Colt Revolving Belt Pistol of Naval Calibre."

Just returned from the conservation workshop after three days hand conservation.

As with all our antique guns no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables  read more

Code: 24752

A Fabulous Royal Bronze Battle Mace From 2,500 to 3,200 Years Old. From the Era of Rameses the Great of Egypt, to Darius, King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire. As Used By The Shardanas Warriors from Sardinia Who Fought for Rameses II Against the Hittite

13th-6th century BC. This is a classic style royal baton mace head of the ancient Bronze Age culture. Examples of this mace can be seen in several of the world's finest ancient Near Eastern bronze collections. The shaft is elaborately decorated with raised striking knobs of a herringbone design. This was an effective striking weapon likely used by high-ranking soldiers or royal subjects due to its extremely decorative design. In battle, maces like this were often used by commanders to display rank when giving orders in battle and leading soldiers, inspiring leadership and power. A substantial bronze cudgel and mace with tubular body, ribbed collar, flared rim and panels of raised herringbone ornament. Ist to 2nd Millennium B.C. In use it would have slotted onto a wooden haft. Items such as this were oft acquired in the 18th century by British noblemen touring the Middle East, Northern France and Italy on their Grand Tour. Originally placed on display in the family 'cabinet of curiosities', within his country house upon his return home. A popular pastime in the 18th and 19th century, comprised of English ladies and gentlemen traveling for many months, or even years, throughout classical Europe, and the Middle East, acquiring antiquities and antiques for their private collections. The use of the stone headed mace as a weapon and a symbol od status and ceremony goes back to the Upper Palaeolithic stone age, but an important, later development in mace heads was the use of metal for their composition. With the advent of copper mace heads, they no longer shattered and a better fit could be made to the wooden club by giving the eye of the mace head the shape of a cone and using a tapered handle.

Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom, itself the most powerful period of Ancient Egypt.

The Shardanas or warriors from Sardinia who fought for Ramses II against the Hittities were armed with maces, exactly as this fabulous example, consisting of rounded wooden hafts with the bronze mace heads slotted upon the hafts. Many bronze statuettes of the times show Sardinian warriors carrying swords, bows and original maces.

Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of Western Asia, parts of the Balkans (Thrace–Macedonia and Paeonia) and the Caucasus, most of the Black Sea's coastal regions, Central Asia, the Indus Valley in the far east, and portions of North Africa and Northeast Africa including Egypt (Mudrâya), eastern Libya, and coastal Sudan.

Darius ascended the throne by overthrowing the legitimate Achaemenid monarch Bardiya, whom he later fabricated to be an imposter named Gaumata. The new king met with rebellions throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time; a major event in Darius' life was his expedition to subjugate Greece and punish Athens and Eretria for their participation in the Ionian Revolt. Although his campaign ultimately resulted in failure at the Battle of Marathon, he succeeded in the re-subjugation of Thrace and expanded the Achaemenid Empire through his conquests of Macedon, the Cyclades and the island of Naxos as well as the sacked Greek city of Eretria.

Persians used a variety of maces and fielded large numbers of heavily armoured and armed cavalry (cataphracts). For a heavily armed Persian knight, a mace was as effective as a sword or battle axe. In fact, Shahnameh has many references to heavily armoured knights facing each other using maces, axes, and swords. The enchanted talking mace Sharur made its first appearance in Sumerian/Akkadian mythology during the epic of Ninurta. Roman though auxiliaries from Syria Palestina were armed with clubs and maces at the battles of Immae and Emesa in 272 AD. They proved highly effective against the heavily armoured horsemen of Palmyra. Photos in the gallery of original carvings from antiquity in the British Museum etc.; Ashurbanipal at the Battle of Til-Tuba, Assyrian Art / British Museum, London/ 650-620 BC/ Limestone,, An Assyrian soldier waving a mace escorts four prisoners, who carry their possessions in sacks over their shoulders. Their clothes and their turbans, rising to a slight point which flops backwards, are typical of the area; people from the Biblical kingdom of Israel, shown on other sculptures, wear the same dress, on a gypsum wall panel relief, South West Palace, Nimrud, Kalhu Iraq, neo-assyrian, 730BC-727BC.
A recovered tablet from Egypt's Early Dynastic Period (3150-2613 BC) shows a Pharaoh smiting his foe with a war mace. Part of an original collection we have just acquired, of antiquities, Roman, Greek, Middle Eastern, Viking and early British relics of warfare from ancient battle sites recovered up to and around 220 years ago.

Last picture in the gallery; Ramses II A larger-than-life Ramses II towering over his prisoners and clutching them by the hair. Limestone bas-relief from Memphis, Egypt, 1290–24 BCE; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

As with all our items it comes complete with our certificate of authenticity.


This wonderful piece would have been made and traded throughout the Western Asiatic region. 551 grams, 24cm (9 1/4").  read more

Code: 23421

Original 1930’s Third Reich Portrait of Rudolf Jordan Hitler's Personally Appointed Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg & Magdeburg-Anhalt and Former General of the SA, Gruppenfuhrer der SA. Likely Commissioned & Paid For By Adolf Hitler Personally

Most rare surviving example of the official portrait of one of Hitler’s personally appointed district political leaders known as a Gauleiter, as almost all of around 450 original, 1930’s German portraits of Hitler’s inner circle and high command are now in the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington. Each portrait could have cost up to 12,000 Reichmarks each, a most considerable sum in 1939 around 60,000 dollars
Hitler usually bought and paid for them all personally, and the small Zinc bust of Rudolf Jordan by Albert Gottlieb he bought and paid 2000 Reich Marks for it in 1941 {about $10,000 US at the time} it's in the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Approximately 114 men held the highly esteemed position of Gauleiter. Many shared a common background. Most of them, particularly during the early years, were drawn from the cadre of "old fighters" that had helped Hitler forge the Party during the Kampfzeit (Time of Struggle). The rank and power of these men was shared equally and was only four below Hitler himself. Their power was thus highly significant within the echelons of the Third Reich.

Many of these portraits were either commissioned, or acquired by Hitler personally, and they are all part of the record of Hitler and his elite commanders rise to power, in order to satisfy his determination to conquer the world and subjugate and destroy all who resisted.

No dictator can effectively govern a nation on his own. This was certainly the case with Adolf Hitler who had little time for or interest in the day-to-day regional administration of the Nazi Party.

For that purpose, he appointed his most loyal, charismatic and brutal subordinates: the ‘Little Hitlers’, officially known as Gauleiters.

Firstly, after the NSDAP gained power over Germany the Nazi Party adopted a new framework, which divided Germany into regions called Gaue. Each Gaue had its own leader, a Gauleiter. Each Gaue was then divided into subsections, called Kreise. Each Kreise then had its own leader, called a Kreisleiter. Each Kreise was then divided into even smaller sections, each with its own leader, and so on. Each of these sections were responsible to the section above them, with Hitler at the very top of the party with ultimate authority.

As almost all these oil portraits of Germany’s ‘Little Hitler’s’ were removed from Germany in 1945/6 and transported to America, it is estimated that just a very few, perhaps as few as between five or ten remained in Europe and in private hands. This is one of those tiny few. An incredibly rare example of the original, historical, visual record of the power structure organised by Hitler himself. Which makes this an incredibly rare original artifact that is an historically important representation of likely the most important and radical political events of the past thousand years. From those three decades of the 20th century that has changed the very structure of the world for all time.

The US high command in 1945/6 realised just how important it was to keep and save as many such portraits of his gauleiters as possible, as a permanent record and reminder for the future, of the monumental fight and sacrifices in order to subdue the axis powers from their schemes of world domination, during the two most significant decades of the past 300 years..

This is original portrait, in oil on canvas, of Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan (21 June 1902 - 27 October 1988). He was a Nazi Gauleiter in Halle-Merseburg and Magdeburg-Anhalt during Hitler’s socialist Third Reich. One of the notorious and prominent high command of Hitler’s Third Reich. An original Nazi oil portrait from the 1930's. Most similar in the new Aryan style of the Nazi portrait painter Fritz Erler, and his painting of 'Minister and Gauleiter Adolf Wagner', 1936. It was exhibited in the GDK, the Great German Art Exhibition, in 1939, in room 23. It was bought there by Hitler for 12.000 RM. In fact he bought two paintings by Fritz Erler: Portrait des Staatsministers und Gauleiters Adolf Wagner and Portrait des Reichsministers Fricke.

They are now in the possession of the US Army Military Center of History. Possibly this portrait was also in that exhibition with the two other Gauleiter Wagner and Frick. Erlers similar style portrait of Hitler, also painted in his SA uniform, in 1931, is currently valued for sale at 725,000 Euros. Around 450 portraits depicting Hitler and other Nazi-officials and symbols are currently stored in the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington

From 19 January 1931, Jordan was appointed Nazi Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg, and then began rising within the Party ranks, acting as member of the Prussian Landtag between April 1932 and October 1933 and being appointed to the Prussian State Council and made an SA Gruppenfuhrer. In the same year began the publication of the Mitteldeutsche Tageszeitung newspaper, led by Jordan. In March 1933 came his appointment as Plenipotentiary for the Province of Saxony in the Reichsrat and in November 1933 his election as a member of the Reichstag. On 20 April 1937, Adolf Hitler personally appointed him Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) in Braunschweig and Anhalt and NSDAP Gauleiter of Magdeburg-Anhalt. Jordan was succeeded as Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg by Joachim Albrecht Eggeling.

In the same year came Jordan's promotion to SA-Obergruppenfuhrer. In 1939, Jordan became Chief of the Anhalt Provincial Government and Reichsverteidigungskommissar (Reich Defence Commissar, or RVK) in Defence District XI. On 18 April 1944 came Jordan's last leap up the career ladder when he was appointed High President (Oberpresident) of the Province of MagdeburgIn the war's dying days, Jordan managed to go underground with his family under a false name. He was nonetheless arrested by the British on 30 May 1945, and in July of the next year, the Western Allies handed him over to the Soviets. Late in 1950 after four years in custody in the Soviet occupation zone Jordan was sentenced to 25 years in a labour camp in the Soviet Union. Only Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow managed to persuade the Soviets to reconsider Jordan's sentence, and then he was released on 13 October 1955. In the years to come, Jordan earned a living as a sales representative, and worked as an administrator for an aircraft manufacturing firm. He died in Munich. The Gardelegen massacre was the cold-blooded murder of inmates that had been evacuated from the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp and some of its sub-camps on April 3rd, 4th and 5th. Around 4,000 prisoners had been bound for the Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen or Neuengamme concentration camps, but when the railroad tracks were bombed by American planes, they had been re-routed to Gardelegen, which was the site of a Cavalry Training School and a Parachutist Training School. The trains were forced to stop before reaching the town of Gardelegen and some of the escaped prisoners had terrorized the nearby villages, raping, looting and killing civilians.

The man who is considered to be the main instigator of the Gardelegen massacre is 34-year-old Gerhard Thiele , who was the Nazi party district leader of Gardelegen. On April 6, 1945, Thiele called a meeting of his staff and other officials at which he issued an order, which had been given to him a few days before by Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan , that any prisoners who were caught looting or who tried to escape should be shot on the spot. In 1932, Nazi Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan claimed that SS Security Chief Reinhard Heydrich was not a pure "Aryan". Within the Nazi organisation such innuendo could be damning, even for the head of the Reich's counterintelligence service. Gregor Strasser passed the allegations on to Achim Gercke who investigated Heydrich's genealogy. Gercke reported that Heydrich was "... of German origin and free from any coloured and Jewish blood". He insisted that the rumours were baseless. Even with this report, Heydrich privately engaged SD member Ernst Hoffman to further investigate and deny the rumours. The last two pictures in the gallery of Jordan with Hitler and his Gaulieters at his 50th birthday examining his convertible Volkwagen Beetle, and the Erler painting of Gauleiter Wagner, bought by Hitler. 2 foot x 3 foot unframed. Water stain at the rear of the canvas. Surviving original portraits of Third Reich leaders are now very rare for at the end of the war thousands of paintings, portraits of Nazi-leaders, paintings containing a swastika or depicting military/war sceneries were destroyed. With knives, fires and hammers, they smashed countless sculptures and burned thousands of paintings. However around 8,722 artworks were shipped to military deposits in the U.S. From 1933 to 1949 Germany experienced two massive art purges. Both the National Socialist government and OMGUS (the U.S. Military Government in Germany) were highly concerned with controlling what people saw and how they saw it. The Nazis eliminated what they called Degenerate art, erasing the pictorial traces of turmoil and heterogeneity that they associated with modern art. The Western Allies in turn eradicated Nazi art. Whatever one considers about the actions of all of the entire third reich, art is art, and every piece is a representation of a portion of history, good or bad. One thing we learned very well from the tragic 1930s and 1940s is that classifying art as non-art and forbidding books or art for political reasons is a dead-end street. No matter how much one dislikes or despises the infamous despots and dictators of history, such as Hitler, Caligula, Pol Pot & Stalin, and no matter how much their depictions were used as propaganda, a painting or sculpture of them cannot be re-classified as 'non art'. This painting depicts a member of Hitler’s notorious inner circle, that for a brief period of world history very nearly placed the entire world in subjugation to the will of Germany and it’s ally Japan. It is the embodiment of why the preservation of such art can remind the thousands of its observers, for generations to come, that those people such as Rudolf Jordan, who were just ordinary looking nondescript individuals, that if left unchecked would have condemned the entire world to a nightmarish dystopia, of slavery, starvation and misery. And thanks to great leaders such as Winston Churchill, who had the talent and skill to embolden a solitary nation, racked by trepidation, facing the free world’s greatest foe alone, they were utterly routed and deposed by the near defeated and subdued great democracies. Part of the theory of Hannah Ahrend Johanna "Hannah" Arendt, 14 October 1906 - 4 December 1975 was a German-born Jewish American political theorist. Though often described as a philosopher, she rejected that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular" and instead described herself as a political theorist because her work centres on the fact that "men, not Man, live on the earth and inhabit the world." This portrait would nicely improve with some cosmetic restoration and cleaning.  read more

Code: 20504

A Very Fine & Most Beautiful 18th Century Royal Naval Officer’s Sword of Hunting Sword Cutlass Type. As Used By Ship's Captain's and Fleet Admirals

Gilt brass hilt with fluted wooden grip and finely engraved blade with maker mark and Solingen, and hunting scenes.

Quillon block decorated with relief hunting horn and hunting devices. Acorn finials and fluted brass pommel.

In the days of the early Royal Navy, officers carried short swords in the pattern of hunting sword cutlasses, with both straight or curved blades, fancy brass mounted single knucklebow hilts with principally stag horn or reeded ebony grips. Although initially designed to protect the huntsman from a close quarter predatory attack, or the coup de grace, they were far more popular in England for use as naval officer's swords, not as their initial design intended, as Britain had far fewer great wild beasts that might threaten a huntsman.

There are numerous portraits in the National Portrait Gallery and The National Maritime Musuem that show British Admirals such as Benbow and Clowdesly Shovel holding such swords, often originally made on the continent as was this beauty.

24.5 inches long overall.  read more

Code: 22526

A Beautiful, Signed Samurai Long 17th Century Katana With Very Fine Edo Period Mounts Including Fabulous Quality Hand Chisselled Silver Fuchi Kashira of Takebori Turbulent Seas and Sea Shells. Signed Hisamichi

The sword has just returned from our Japanese, trained polisher, for a final hand conservation and it look simply fabulous.

Its fabulous munuki are bound underneath the micro woven plaited tsuka-ito hilt binding, depict takebori gold and shakudo Mount Fuji, and a man running in the waves that are before Mount Fuji. The saya is black urushi lacquer with a carved buffalo horn kurigata and brown sageo wrap. The blade shows a beautiful notare based on suguha hamon, with fine hada. The nakago is signed and bears the signature, Omi no Kami Hisamichi, but not, or very unlikey to be one of the four Mashina school masters, also named Hisamichi.

Very fine signed iron plate hira-kaku-gata tsuba, but when mounted, the tsuba seppa-dai is covered by seppa (metal spacers) and the signature (mei) is not visible as usual. With a mimi {a prominant rim} and a kozuka hitsu-ana, and kogai hitsu ana, and very scarcely seen, twin holes near the rim at the bottom of the tsuba called ude-nuki ana. These represent the sun and moon and were likely used for threading a leather wrist thong to prevent dropping the sword in battle on horseback, and to tie the tsuka to the saya.

The name katana derives from two old Japanese written characters or symbols: kata, meaning side, and na, or edge. Thus a katana is a single-edged sword that has had few rivals in the annals of war, either in the East or the West. Because the sword was the main battle weapon of Japan's knightly man-at-arms (although spears and bows were also carried), an entire martial art grew up around learning how to use it. This was kenjutsu, the art of sword fighting, or kendo in its modern, non-warlike incarnation. The importance of studying kenjutsu and the other martial arts such as kyujutsu, the art of the bow, was so critical to the samurai a very real matter of life or death that Miyamoto Musashi, most renowned of all swordsmen, warned in his classic The Book of Five Rings: The science of martial arts for warriors requires construction of various weapons and understanding the properties of the weapons. A member of a warrior family who does not learn to use weapons and understand the specific advantages of each weapon would seem to be somewhat uncultivated. European knights and Japanese samurai have some interesting similarities. Both groups rode horses and wore armour. Both came from a wealthy upper class. And both were trained to follow strict codes of moral behaviour. In Europe, these ideals were called chivalry; the samurai code was called Bushido, "the way of the warrior." The rules of chivalry and Bushido both emphasize honour, self-control, loyalty, bravery, and military training.

Samurai have been describes as "the most strictly trained human instruments of war to have existed." They were expected to be proficient in the martial arts of aikido and kendo as well as swordsmanship and archery---the traditional methods of samurai warfare---which were viewed not so much as skills but as art forms that flowed from natural forces that harmonized with nature.
Some samurai, it has been claimed, didn't become a full-fledged samurai until he wandered around the countryside as begging pilgrim for a couple of years to learn humility. When this was completed they achieved samurai status and receives a salary from his daimyo paid from taxes (usually rice) raised from the local populace.

Blade 28.3 inches long, tsuba to tip.  read more

Code: 25301

A Most Attractive 500 Plus Year Old Samurai Battle Katana With All Original Edo Mounts,

Shibui mounted in all its original Edo period mounts and saya. Higo iron fushigashira mounts, decorated with takebori gold aoi leaves. Tetsu round tsuba with pierced kozuka and [gilt copper filled] kogai hitsu-ana. The original Edo saya lacquer is simply beautiful, in two shades of black with an intricate fine rainfall pattern within the design. The menuki under the Edo silk binding, are patinated takebori flowers with pure gold highlights. The blade has a beautiful undulating hamon pattern of considerable depth.
Shibui is a term that effectively translates to ‘quiet’ , it is a reference to a sword that has a relatively subdued look as it concentrates on high quality yet subtle elegance, as it is a sword entirely concentrating on combat and less on flamboyant display. Of course all samurai swords were designed for combat, often despite being mounted as works of art, often with fantastic quality fittings worthy of Italian Renaissance jewels, such as the European equivalent work by the Italian master Cellini, but they would be for samurai eager to display their status in the elite hierarchy of the samurai class, such as daimyo. The swords mounted shibui were for the samurai of far more serious nature, dedicated to their more basic standards of bushido, the art of the ultimate warrior, with little or no interest in displays of rank. A samurai of the highest skill but preferring the anonymity of almost being invisible to unwanted attention.

Samurai endured for almost 700 years, from 1185 to 1867. Samurai families were considered the elite. They made up only about six percent of the population and included daimyo and the loyal soldiers who fought under them. Samurai means one who serves."

Samurai were expected to be both fierce warriors and lovers of art, a dichotomy summed up by the Japanese concepts of bu [to stop the spear] exanding into bushido (the way of life of the warrior) and bun (the artistic, intellectual and spiritual side of the samurai). Originally conceived as away of dignifying raw military power, the two concepts were synthesised in feudal Japan and later became a key feature of Japanese culture and morality. The quintessential samurai was Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary early Edo-period swordsman who reportedly killed 60 men before his 30th birthday and was also a painting master. Members of a hierarchal class or caste, samurai were the sons of samurai and they were taught from an early age to unquestionably obey their mother, father and daimyo. When they grew older they may be trained by Zen Buddhist masters in meditation and the Zen concepts of impermanence and harmony with nature. The were also taught about painting, calligraphy, nature poetry, mythological literature, flower arranging, and the tea ceremony. 40 inches long overall. 28.5 inch long blade, from tsuba to tip., The blade is in super condition for its age, with just a few wear marks, and pit marks on the mune back edge near the boshi. The saya lacquer has some natural age craking at the base  read more

Code: 24217

A Fine & Beautiful Museum Piece. An Original Antique Fijian Ula, A Throwing War Club. A Singularly Beautiful Example & of Exceptional Rarity, From A Fijian Warring Cannibal Tribe Circa 18th Century Lt. Bligh RN of the Mutiny On The Bounty Period

A handsomely hand carved hardwood throwing club "ula" showing a stunning natural, age patina. With fine globed assymetrical head with top knob, and geometric carved patterning on the haft. It is perhaps the most famous and recognizable of all oceanic weapons.

The ula was the most personal fighting war weapon of the Fijian warrior and was carried, inserted into a warrior’s fibre girdle sometimes in pairs like pistols.

The throwing of the ula was achieved with great skill, precision and speed. It was often carried in conjunction with a heavier full length club or spear which served to finish an opponent after initially being disabled by a blow from the ula. It was made by a tribal weapon specialist from a variety of uprooted bushes or shrubs.

Across 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from east to west, Fiji has been a nation of many languages. Fiji's history was one of settlement but also of mobility. Over the centuries, a unique Fijian culture developed. Constant warfare and cannibalism between warring tribes were quite rampant and very much part of everyday life. During the 19th century, Ratu Udre Udre is said to have consumed 872 people and to have made a pile of stones to record his achievement."Ceremonial occasions saw freshly killed corpses piled up for eating. 'Eat me!' was a proper ritual greeting from a commoner to a chief.

The posts that supported the chief's house or the priest's temple would have sacrificed bodies buried underneath them, with the rationale that the spirit of the ritually sacrificed person would invoke the gods to help support the structure, and "men were sacrificed whenever posts had to be renewed" . Also, when a new boat, or drua, was launched, if it was not hauled over men as rollers, crushing them to death, "it would not be expected to float long" . Fijians today regard those times as "na gauna ni tevoro" (time of the devil). The ferocity of the cannibal lifestyle deterred European sailors from going near Fijian waters, giving Fiji the name Cannibal Isles; as a result, Fiji remained unknown to the rest of the world.

According to Fijian legend, the great chief Lutunasobasoba led his people across the seas to the new land of Fiji. Most authorities agree that people came into the Pacific from Southeast Asia via the Malay Peninsula. Here the Melanesians and the Polynesians mixed to create a highly developed society long before the arrival of the Europeans.

The European discoveries of the Fiji group were accidental. The first of these discoveries was made in 1643 by the Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman and English navigators, including Captain James Cook who sailed through in 1774, and made further explorations in the 18th century.

Major credit for the discovery and recording of the islands went to Captain William Bligh who sailed through Fiji after the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789.

The first Europeans to land and live among the Fijians were shipwrecked sailors and runaway convicts from the Australian penal settlements. Sandalwood traders and missionaries came by the mid 19th century.

Cannibalism practiced in Fiji at that time quickly disappeared as missionaries gained influence. When Ratu Seru Cakobau accepted Christianity in 1854, the rest of the country soon followed and tribal warfare came to an end.

Trade of sandalwood was the dominant feature of the opening of markets between Europeans and the islands, and the finest early Fijian weaponry likely came to Europe from the earliest maritime visitors in the 18th century to early 19th century.

This Ula would likely have been made and used at the time of Lt Bligh and his journey upon HMS Bounty.
'A Chart of Bligh's Islands Fiji by William Bligh. The Broken Line shows my Track in the Bounty's Launch when I discovered the Islands in 1789. The Plain Line my Track in the Providence and Assistant in 1792. The parts tinged Green were seen in the Bounty's Launch.' Added and inscribed in pencil on the left is 'Land seen by the ships Hope and Ann -Captain Maitland, 1799'. Made in ink and pencil on tracing paper, dated 14 April 1801. See Bligh's chart in the gallery

The Ula is approx 13 inches long  read more

Code: 22806