Antique Arms & Militaria

A Fabulous Quality Crimean War Cavalry Officer's Pistol of Carbine Bore, Damascus Barrel with Paget Style Captive Ramrod. Near Identical to the Pistol of Colonel John Yorke, 1st Royal Regt of Dragoons,.

Part of superb Crimean War period collectables we have just acquired. Beautifully scroll engraved lock and mounts, in superb condition for age, with Damascus twist barrel with hook breech and barrel slide, 'Paget' captive ramrod, juglans regia walnut stock with micro chequering and silver escutcheon. Sliding safety to lock. Dolphin percussion hammer. Excellent tight and crisp action.
Photo in the gallery of a near identical pistol, also of carbine bore, showing all the same features as this pistol, such as sliding safety, hook breech Damascus barrel retained with barrel slides, fine walnut stock with micro chequring and paget swivel ramrod. The pistol of Colonel John Yorke, 1st Royal Regt of Dragoons, wounded at Balaklava, supporting the Light Brigade in the Valley of Death. The pistol in the household Cavalry Museum.

This cavalry officer's pistol is absolutely typical of the type carried by some officer's that took part in the charge, and may very well have been used by one.

The Charge of the Light Brigade {Aka, Into the Valley of Death} was a world famous military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Brigade, led by Lord Cardigan, mounted a frontal assault against a Russian artillery battery which was well prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire. The charge was the result of a misunderstood order from the commander in chief, Lord Raglan, who had intended the Light Brigade to attack a different objective for which light cavalry was better suited, to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions. The Light Brigade made its charge under withering direct fire and reached its target, scattered some of the gunners but was forced to retreat immediately.

The events were the subject of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854), published six weeks after the event. Its lines emphasise the valour of the cavalry in carrying out their orders regardless of the risk. Responsibility for the miscommunication has remained controversial, as the order was vague and Captain Louis Nolan, who delivered the written orders with some verbal interpretation, was killed in the first minute of the assault.

Out of interest, around 30 years ago we owned the very foul weather sabretache of Captain Nolan that he used, and carried, that very order to charge the Russian guns into the Valley of Death. The sabretache, was the one upon which he fell, when he perished when fatally wounded within sixty seconds of the commencement of charge. It came to us through the family ownership and had previously been on display in two museums until the mid 20th century.

The charge;

The Light Brigade set off down the valley with Cardigan in front, leading the charge on his horse Ronald. Almost at once, Nolan rushed across the front, passing in front of Cardigan. It may be that he realised that the charge was aimed at the wrong target and was attempting to stop or turn the brigade, but he was killed by an artillery shell and the cavalry continued on its course. Captain Godfrey Morgan was close by:

The first shell burst in the air about 100 yards in front of us. The next one dropped in front of Nolan's horse and exploded on touching the ground. He uttered a wild yell as his horse turned round, and, with his arms extended, the reins dropped on the animal's neck, he trotted towards us, but in a few yards dropped dead off his horse. I do not imagine that anybody except those in the front line of the 17th Lancers saw what had happened.

We went on. When we got about two or three hundred yards the battery of the Russian Horse Artillery opened fire. I do not recollect hearing a word from anybody as we gradually broke from a trot to a canter, though the noise of the striking of men and horses by grape and round shot was deafening, while the dust and gravel struck up by the round shot that fell short was almost blinding, and irritated my horse so that I could scarcely hold him at all. But as we came nearer I could see plainly enough, especially when I was about a hundred yards from the guns. I appeared to be riding straight on to the muzzle of one of the guns, and I distinctly saw the gunner apply his fuse. I shut my eyes then, for I thought that settled the question as far as I was concerned. But the shot just missed me and struck the man on my right full in the chest.

In another minute I was on the gun and the leading Russian's grey horse, shot, I suppose, with a pistol by somebody on my right, fell across my horse, dragging it over with him and pinning me in between the gun and himself. A Russian gunner on foot at once covered me with his carbine. He was just within reach of my sword, and I struck him across his neck. The blow did not do much harm, but it disconcerted his aim. At the same time a mounted gunner struck my horse on the forehead with his sabre. Spurring "Sir Briggs," he half jumped, half blundered, over the fallen horses, and then for a short time bolted with me. I only remember finding myself alone among the Russians trying to get out as best I could. This, by some chance, I did, in spite of the attempts of the Russians to cut me down.

The Light Brigade faced withering fire from three sides which devastated their force on the ride, yet they were able to engage the Russian forces at the end of the valley and force them back from the redoubt. Nonetheless, they had suffered heavy casualties and were soon forced to retire. The surviving Russian artillerymen returned to their guns and opened fire with grapeshot and canister shot, indiscriminately at the mêlée of friend and foe before them  read more

Code: 24948

A Fabulous, Extraordinarily Beautiful and Exquisite Quality Pure Koftgari Gold Inlaid Gentleman’s Walking Stick ‘Dandy Cane’ Inlaid With Incredibly Skillful Craftmanship

One of the most beautiful and finest quality examples we have ever seen. A steel handle inlaid with amazing two colour Koftgari goldwork of simply stunning quality. Koftgari is the Indian form of damascening which closely resembles the damascening found in Persia and Syria.

The inlay process begins after the piece is moulded and fully formed. The intended design is engraved into the base metal and fine gold or silver wire is then hammered into the grooves.

The base metal is always a hard metal, either steel, iron or bronze, and the inlay a soft metal, either gold or silver. This combination prevents the base from deforming when the wire inlay is hammered into the surface and results in the inlaid areas being well defined and of sharp appearance.

Swords, shield and armour were often decorated in koftgari work and domestic items such as boxes and betel containers, were also made. Every other portrait of a Georgian, Victorian, or Edwardian gentleman, shows some nattily dressed fellow with a walking stick pegged jauntily into the ground or a slim baton negligently tucked under the elbow. The dress cane was the quintessential mark of the dandy for three centuries, part fashion accessory, part aid to communication, part weapon, and of course, a walking aid. A dandy, historically, is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of self. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle despite coming from a middle-class background, especially in late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain.

Previous manifestations of the petit-maître (French for "small master") and the Muscadin have been noted by John C. Prevost, but the modern practice of dandyism first appeared in the revolutionary 1790s, both in London and in Paris. The dandy cultivated cynical reserve, yet to such extremes that novelist George Meredith, himself no dandy, once defined cynicism as "intellectual dandyism". Some took a more benign view; Thomas Carlyle wrote in Sartor Resartus that a dandy was no more than "a clothes-wearing man". Honoré de Balzac introduced the perfectly worldly and unmoved Henri de Marsay in La fille aux yeux d'or (1835), a part of La Comédie Humaine, who fulfils at first the model of a perfect dandy, until an obsessive love-pursuit unravels him in passionate and murderous jealousy.

Charles Baudelaire defined the dandy, in the later "metaphysical" phase of dandyism, as one who elevates æsthetics to a living religion, that the dandy's mere existence reproaches the responsible citizen of the middle class: "Dandyism in certain respects comes close to spirituality and to stoicism" and "These beings have no other status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons, of satisfying their passions, of feeling and thinking …. Dandyism is a form of Romanticism. Contrary to what many thoughtless people seem to believe, dandyism is not even an excessive delight in clothes and material elegance. For the perfect dandy, these things are no more than the symbol of the aristocratic superiority of mind."

The linkage of clothing with political protest had become a particularly English characteristic during the 18th century. Given these connotations, dandyism can be seen as a political protest against the levelling effect of egalitarian principles, often including nostalgic adherence to feudal or pre-industrial values, such as the ideals of "the perfect gentleman" or "the autonomous aristocrat". Paradoxically, the dandy required an audience, as Susann Schmid observed in examining the "successfully marketed lives" of Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron, who exemplify the dandy's roles in the public sphere, both as writers and as personae providing sources of gossip and scandal. Nigel Rodgers in The Dandy: Peacock or Enigma? Questions Wilde's status as a genuine dandy, seeing him as someone who only assumed a dandified stance in passing, not a man dedicated to the exacting ideals of dandyism.  read more

Code: 23513

A Superb 1200b.c. Bronze Age Long Dagger From the So-Called Greek 'Heroic Era' Of The Seige of Troy, and The Trojan War, Historically Famed with the Legendary Achilles and Hector

Around 3200 years old
A bronze flanged dagger with integrally preserved bifurcated hilt, triangular blade, the open handle intended to accept organic grip plates of wood or horn bifurcated pommel. Approx 12" long. Fine condition
This is a most handsome ancient bronze long bladed dagger, with a tapering hilt and crescent pommel form, from one of the most fascinating eras in ancient world history, the era of the so called Trojan Wars. The recessed grip panels within the hilt would likely be for slabs of ivory or horn. The ancient Greeks believed the Trojan War was a historical event that had taken place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and believed that Troy was located in modern day Turkey near the Dardanelles. In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey . "The Iliad" relates a part of the last year of the siege of Troy, while the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the Achaean leaders. Other parts of the war were told in a cycle of epic poems, which has only survived in fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets such as Virgil and Ovid.

The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave them a golden apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked "for the fairest". Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years due to Paris' insult. After the deaths of many heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans (except for some of the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves) and desecrated the temples, thus earning the gods' wrath. Few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, one of the Trojans, who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to modern day Italy.

This dagger comes from that that great historical period, from the time of the birth of known recorded history, and the formation of great empires, the cradle of civilization, known as The Mycenaean Age, of 1600 BC to 1100 BC. Known as the Bronze Age, it started even centuries before the time of Herodotus, who was known throughout the world as the father of history. Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece from which the name Mycenaean Age is derived. The Mycenae site is located in the Peloponnese of Southern Greece. The remains of a Mycenaean palace were found at this site, accounting for its importance. Other notable sites during the Mycenaean Age include Athens, Thebes, Pylos and Tiryns.
According to Homer, the Mycenaean civilization is dedicated to King Agamemnon who led the Greeks in the Trojan War. The palace found at Mycenae matches Homer's description of Agamemnon's residence. The amount and quality of possessions found at the graves at the site provide an insight to the affluence and prosperity of the Mycenaean civilization. Prior to the Mycenaean's ascendancy in Greece, the Minoan culture was dominant. However, the Mycenaeans defeated the Minoans, acquiring the city of Troy in the process. In the greatest collections of the bronze age there are swords and daggers exactly as this beautiful example. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the bronze sword of King Adad-nirari I, a unique example from the palace of one of the early kings of the period (14th-13th century BC) during which Assyria first began to play a prominent part in Mesopotamian history. Swords daggers and weapons from this era were made within the Persian bronze industry, which was also influenced by Mesopotamia. Luristan, near the western border of Persia, it is the source of many bronzes, such as this piece, that have been dated from 1500 to 500 BC and include chariot or harness fittings, rein rings, elaborate horse bits, and various decorative rings, as well as weapons, personal ornaments, different types of cult objects, and a number of household vessels.

A sword, found in the palace of Mallia and dated to the Middle Minoan period (2000-1600 BC), is an example of the extraordinary skill of the Cretan metalworker in casting bronze. The hilt of the sword is of gold-plated ivory and crystal. A dagger blade found in the Lasithi plain, dating about 1800 BC (Metropolitan Museum of Art), is the earliest known predecessor of ornamented dagger blades from Mycenae. It is engraved with two spirited scenes: a fight between two bulls and a man spearing a boar. Somewhat later (c. 1400 BC) are a series of splendid blades from mainland Greece, which must be attributed to Cretan craftsmen, with ornament in relief, incised, or inlaid with varicoloured metals, gold, silver, and niello. The most elaborate inlays--pictures of men hunting lions and of cats hunting birds--are on daggers from the shaft graves of Mycenae, Nilotic scenes showing Egyptian influence. The bronze was oxidized to a blackish-brown tint; the gold inlays were hammered in and polished and the details then engraved on them. The gold was in two colours, a deeper red being obtained by an admixture of copper; and there was a sparing use of neillo. The copper and gold most likely came from the early mine centres, in and around Mesopotamia, and the copper ingots exported to the Cretans for their master weapon makers. This dagger sword is in very nice condition with typical ancient patina encrustations . 36 cm long. Picture in the gallery of Achilles and Penthesella on the Plain of Troy, with Athena, Aphrodite and Eros. See a similar dagger in Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, pp.286-287, with the gold pommel still preserved; see also parallels in Calmeyer, P., 'Datierbare bronzen aus Luristan und Kirmanshah' in Untersuchungen sur Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archaeologie, Berlin, 1969.

These flanged type of daggers with bifurcated hilts find parallels in ancient Persia, and are usually dated to the 11th century BC (Calmeyer, 1969, p.61, figs.60-61). Related examples from Hasanlu have a more pronounced splayed pommel and a square guard.
Formerly of the Abelita family collection, 1980-2015.  read more

Code: 24103

Intriguing New Additions For This Coming Week. Original Viking Antiquities, Japanese Samurai Tsubas, WW2 Tommy Helmets, Plus So Much More!

Due to our unique, generations long presence, visitors, in their hundreds of thousands from all around the globe travel to Brighton every year, through every season, and visit our gallery whether to buy, sell or simply view.
Consequently this means that every day, descendants of old war veterans from past wars may bring their treasures and heirlooms to sell, or even just to enquire about their potential story if they are unknown to them. If we can help we are delighted to assist, and we never, ever charge. It is entirely free and offered with the greatest of pleasure, in fact it happens often over 50 times a day, week in week out.  read more

Code: 25855

A Most Scarce, And Highly Attractive In It’s Simplicity 17th Century Tanjore Battle Axe From The Era of Moghul Emperor Aurangzebe

From the era of Emperor Aurangzebe, from Lahore, in the Punjab. Iron combat axe head of iconic backswept form with elongated rectangular socket mount, on likely a later haft. Sobriquet Aurangzeb (Persian: "Ornament of the Throne") or by his regnal title Alamgir (Persian: "Conqueror of the World"), was the sixth, and widely considered the last effective Mughal emperor. His reign lasted for 49 years from 1658 until his death in 1707.

Aurangzeb was a notable expansionist and during his reign, the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent, ruling over nearly all of the Indian subcontinent. During his lifetime, victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to 4 million square kilometres, and he ruled over a population estimated to be over 158 million subjects, with an annual yearly revenue of more than ten times that of his contemporary King Louis XIV of France, around 39 million pounds (almost 3 billion rupees) in 1690. Under his reign, India surpassed China to become the world's largest economy, nearly a quarter of world GDP in 1700.

Aurangzeb is considered one of India's most controversial kings. Some historians argue that his policies abandoned his predecessors' legacy of pluralism and religious tolerance, citing his destruction of Hindu temples and execution of a Sikh guru, while other historians question this, arguing that his destruction of temples has been exaggerated and were politically motivated, and noting that he built more temples than he destroyed, also destroyed Islamic mosques, paid for the maintenance of temples, employed significantly more Hindus in his imperial bureaucracy than his predecessors did, and opposed bigotry against Hindus and Shia Muslims.

It was at the end of his reign that the downfall of the Mughal Empire began. Rebellions and wars eventually led to the exhaustion of the imperial Mughal treasury and army. He was a strong-handed authoritarian ruler, and following his death the expansionary period of the Mughal Empire came to an end. Nevertheless, the contiguous territory of the Mughal Empire still remained intact more or less until the reign of Muhammad Shah.  read more

Code: 20915

An Imposing & Elegant ‘Morituri’ Walking Cane Combination ‘Bartitsu’ Club Stick, Cast Bronze Skull With & Sophisticated Ebony Stick & Carved Bone Ferrul. Once A Most Essential Accessory For the Gentleman About Town.

Likely 20th century, post Victorian.. A gentleman’s walking out club cane of the most distinct esoteric style of a weighted cast skull set upon an elegant, earlier, Victorian ebony cane with a carved bone ferrule.
Skull mounted canes for gentlemen have been most popular in all forms since the 18th century, and one of the most famed was the cane made for, and used by, Charles Darwin.

Darwin called his skull stick his ‘morituri’, a type of ‘memento mori’. These objects remind their owners of the short time people live on earth. Charles Darwin (1809-82) is famous for his theory of evolution outlined in The Origin of Species, first published in 1859. Darwin’s walking stick was collected by Henry Wellcome as a relic of someone Wellcome considered a ‘great man.’ Darwin's carved whalebone Morituri cane is shown in the gallery on a black ground.

Walking canes have been in use for centuries and have come to represent both elegance and practicality. A sophisticated walking cane in particular, is more than just a tool to aid in walking it is a statement of style, sophistication, and grace. The concept of a gentleman’s elegant walking cane, its history, and its contemporary significance, is intriguing, and furthermore, a night walking gentleman once trained in the art of the ‘fighting stick’, most elegantly detailed in the Sherlock Holmes novels by famed Victorian and Edwardian Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, could a most effective adversary, with his defensive accessory, ready to counter the prowling Victorian ne’er do well or assassin on the streets of London after dark {just like London is now, apparently, but long before dark}

A brief history of walking canes
Walking canes have been in use since ancient times, with evidence of their use found in several civilizations around the world. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all used walking sticks for both functional and ceremonial purposes. In medieval times, walking canes were an accessory of the wealthy and powerful, often adorned with precious metals and jewels.

By the 17th century, walking canes had become an essential part of men's fashion. They were not only used as a symbol of wealth and status but also as a practical tool to aid in walking. During the 18th century, walking canes became even more ornate, with intricate designs and carvings, and the addition of handles made from exotic materials such as ivory and tortoiseshell.

In the 19th century, walking canes became more utilitarian in nature, with the introduction of collapsible canes and adjustable handles. They continued to be popular among the wealthy, with some canes serving as a form of self-defense, in the lawless cities, fitted with sword or dagger blades. And a substantial cane often made a most effective 'club' stick, although never designed as such of course, but necessity has always been the mother of invention.

Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane-fighting, and French kickboxing (savate). In 1903, it was immortalised (as "baritsu") by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories.

The stick fighting component was based on the two fundamental tactics of either feinting/striking pre-emptively or "baiting" the opponent's strike via a position of invitation. Fighting from the style's characteristic high- and double-handed guard positions - assumed so as to make it more difficult for an opponent to "snipe" the weapon-wielding hand - stick strikes and thrusts targeted the opponent's face and head, throat, elbows, hands and wrists, solar plexus, knees and shins. The Bartitsu stick fighter would often incorporate close combat techniques such as trips, throws and takedowns, representing a fusion of the Vigny stick system with jujutsu, which was unique to Bartitsu as a system.

A most beautiful yet intriguing collectors item.

90cm long  read more

Code: 24855

A Superb 60 Million Year Old Otodus Shark's Tooth Fossil. The Ancestor of the Megaladon The Giant Great White Type Shark

This would make a fabulous and incredibly unusual and original gift for a loved one.

The Otodus of 60 million years ago was up to 40 foot long and the Megalodon of 20 million years ago was up to 60 foot long.

A stunning large Otodus shark's tooth fossil in super condition. One of a small collection we have just been delighted to acquire. It would make a stunning desk ornament, as an impressive collector's item and conversation piece. Otodus is an extinct genus of shark which lived from the Paleocene to the Miocene epoch.
Otodus likely preyed upon large bony fish, other sharks, and from the Eocene until the genus' extinct during the Miocene, marine mammals. It was among the top predators of its time.The fossils of Otodus indicate that it was a very large macro-predatory shark. The vertebral centrum of this shark are over 12.7 cm (5 inch) wide. Scientists suggest that this shark at least reached 9.1 metres (30 ft) in total length, with a maximum length of 12.2 metres (40 ft) The Paleocene Epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. It started with the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous, known as the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary. This was a time marked by the demise of non-avian dinosaurs, giant marine reptiles and much other fauna and flora. The die-off of the dinosaurs left unfilled ecological niches worldwide. The Paleocene ended with the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, a geologically brief (0.2 million year) interval characterised by extreme changes in climate and carbon cycling. The otodus was likely the ancestor of the Giant White Megaladon shark of 40 million years later. The tooth shown here was sold on day 1 but we have two others near identical, also the same size, the price is also the same. It is possible they may have been from the remains of the same shark.

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

Code: 24516

A Small & Beautiful Neolithic 7000 to 10000 Year Old Small Polished Stone Age Symbolic Flint Hand Axe 5000 to 8000 bc

In the Neolithic period (later stone age) people started to settle down and start farming. At places such as Springfield Lyons, in Chelmsford, Essex, these early settlements have been identified. It was also at this time when stone tools, which up until this point had been purely functional, started to take on a more symbolic meaning.

A beautiful piece of ancient craftsmanship, with the hand polishing of flint being incredibly labour intensive, even for the smallest of examples.

Besides being tools, axes could also have important ritual and social functions. Polished stone axes and other tools that were never used have been found across the county, showing changes in social hierarchy and possibly even the development of religion.

In the Neolithic period people began to use flint axes that had been polished. The polishing of flint marks such a significant technological advance that archaeologists use this to draw the boundary between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic periods.

Although small polished axes are readily believed to be symbolic for ceremonies some speculate they could also be the first human concept of jewellery, the evolution of two dimensional art of cave paintings, into three dimensional art, being artefacts of rare and fine materials to be given or traded.

The population grew, and this led to competition for space, power and leadership. The farmer could mark his position in battle, as well as with peaceful exchanges of gifts with neighbours and friends. Gifts could be ornate axes of flint or amber beads. Many of these riches were sacrificed to the powers above in lakes. In the early Neolithic period people were also sometimes executed and thrown in lakes. Conflicts among the farmers may have triggered off violence and killings. Human sacrifices were also made. Both young and old people ended their days in this way.

The Neolithic also known as the "New Stone Age", the final division of the Stone Age, began about 12,000 years ago when the first development of farming appeared in the Epipalaeolithic Near East, and later in other parts of the world. The division lasted until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic from about 6,500 years ago (4500 BC), marked by the development of metallurgy, leading up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age. In Northern Europe, the Neolithic lasted until about 1700 BC, while in China it extended until 1200 BC. Other parts of the world (the New World) remained in the Neolithic stage of development until European contact.

The Neolithic comprises a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and of domesticated animals.

The term Neolithic derives from the Greek neos and lithos "New Stone Age". The term was coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.

Photo of Skara Brae, Orkney, Neolithic home, thought to be 5,000 years old

38 mm long  read more

Code: 24912

A Beautiful Original Roman 1st to 2nd Century A.D. Modius or Fire Alter Status Seal Ring. Worn From The Reigns Of Emperor Augustus Through To Emperor Flavian

The Julian Dynasty
Augustus (also known as Octavian, he was the first official emperor, reigning from 27 BC to AD 14)
Tiberius (reigned from AD 14 to 37)
Caligula (reigned from AD 37 to 41)
Claudius (reigned from AD 41 to 54)
Nero (reigned from AD 54 to 68)
The year of the 4 emperors, preceded by reign dates.
June 68 - Jan 69: Galba
Jan 69 - Apr 69: Otho
Apr 69 - Dec 69: Vitellius

The Flavian Dynasty
69 - 79: Vespasian
79 - 81: Titus
81 - 96: Domitian

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty
96 - 98: Nerva
98 - 117 a.d.: Trajan


Henig type Xb. Wide oval bezel affixed to flattened shoulders engraved copper alloy. Almost identical to one found in the UK near Hadrian's Wall. Engraved to either to represent the Zaroastrian fire altar, or vessel of sprouting grains. 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. Comes in a complimentary box  read more

Code: 24910

A Stunning, Moghul Indo Persian Khanjar Dagger, With Carved Jade, Inlaid with Cabochon Turquoise Handle, With 'Tiger Tooth', Wootz Steel, Double Fullered And Ribbed, Double Edged Blade

With wootz Damascus blade. An 18th to 19th century dagger khanjar, with a curved double edged watered wootz blade 24cms long, cut with a pair of deep fullers with medial ridge, mounted with a fine one piece jade hilt engraved and incised overall with foliage and inlaid with cabochon turquoise at the corners and on the pommel. The Mughal (or Moghul) Empire was an early-modern empire in South Asia. For some two centuries, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan plateau in South India.

The Mughal empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur, a warrior chieftain from what today is Uzbekistan, who employed aid from the neighboring Safavid and Ottoman empires to defeat the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodhi, in the First Battle of Panipat, and to sweep down the plains of Upper India. The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, to the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar. This imperial structure lasted until 1720, until shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurengzeb, during whose reign the empire also achieved its maximum geographical extent. Reduced subsequently, especially during the East India Company rule in India, to the region in and around Old Delhi, the empire was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Although the Mughal empire was created and sustained by military warfare,it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule, but rather equalized and placated them through new administrative practices, and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standarized rule.The base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator, were paid in the well-regulated silver currency, and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.

The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion.Burgeoning European presence in the Indian ocean, and its increasing demand for Indian raw- and finished products, created still greater wealth in the Mughal courts. There was more conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite, resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture, especially during the reign of Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal, which is described as, "The jewel of Muslim art in India, and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.  read more

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