A Very Good, WW1 & WW2 Original Horseguards, Life Guards and Blues And Royals, Other Ranks Pattern Helmet Plate, Order of the Garter Badge Star. For The Mounted Bodyguard of The King

Ideal for a collector that has a helmet lacking its badge. This badge could add a thousand pounds of value to a helmet missing its original badge.

Original, early King's Crown type. This fabulous quality WW1 and WW2 other ranks badge, was in use since 1901, used by a trooper or NCO of the Blues and Royals or the Life Guards, that combined, make up the Royal Horseguards, until the pattern was changed with the queen's crown in 1953. The Albert helmet is the current ceremonial headgear of the British Army's Household Cavalry, the Life guards regiment and the Blues and Royals regiment. It was introduced by Prince Albert in 1842 and adopted by the Household Cavalry the following year. In 1847 the helmet was introduced to all heavy cavalry regiments. It remains in use as the full dress headgear of the two remaining Household Cavalry regiments, the Blues and Royals and the Life Guards. The magnificent helmet remains in use with the two current Household Cavalry regiments, the Blues and Royals with red plume and the Life Guards with white plume. These regiments are amalgamations of the four earlier regiments. The Life Guards retain the white plume and the onion from the 2nd Regiment, the Blues and Royals retain the red plume of the Royal Horse Guards. Blues and Royals officers wear a yak hair plume. Farriers in both regiments wear different plumes, the Life Guards farrier wear black and Blues and Royals farrier red.

The regiments also differ in how they wear the helmet's chin strap. The Blues and Royals wear it under the chin while the Life Guards wear it under the lower lip. The helmet is now in white metal for all ranks and the same helmet plate is worn by both regiments (they were different historically).

The Albert helmet is only worn in full dress review order, guard order and front yard order by other ranks and in full dress, levee dress and ceremonial rehearsal dress by officers. Medical and veterinary officers do not wear the helmet, instead wearing a cocked hat.

The other ranks of the Mounted Band of the Household Cavalry wear the helmet in full dress (with the plumes of their parent regiments), except when parading in the presence of the royal family, when they wear state dress with jockey caps. Band officers wear Albert helmets on both occasions.
one threaded affixing bolt remaining and one fold out helmet affixing stem  read more

Code: 24072

Group of Three Neolithic Stone Age 'Scraper' Flints Around 5000 Years Old. Arthur Halcrow Versage Collection. Possibly An Ideal & Unique Gift Idea For Christmas

3 Parts of Stone Age Scraper Group. Hand knapped by a Stone Age person in Britain around 5000 years ago, from whole flints to create three scraping tools.
Neolithic, 3rd millennium BC.

From our acquisition of the Arthur Halcrow Versage collection, Reigate, Surrey, UK; discovered from Hallard’s Fen, Burwell, Cambridgeshire, in 1969. In the Neolithic period (later stone age) people started to settle down and start farming. At places such as Springfield Lyons, 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. 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.

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..
Generic photos in the gallery of three from the Neolithic flints in the collection.  read more

Code: 23773

A Late Koto to Early Shinto Period Katana Round Plate Tsuba. Outline Inlaid With Flattened Sinchu Around the Sukashi Piercings

The piercing has been outlined with a borderline of inlaid brass. Circa 1600. Tsuba were made by whole dynasties of craftsmen whose only craft was making tsuba. They were usually lavishly decorated. In addition to being collectors items, they were often used as heirlooms, passed from one generation to the next. Japanese families with samurai roots sometimes have their family crest (mon) crafted onto a tsuba. Tsuba can be found in a variety of metals and alloys, including iron, steel, brass, copper and shakudo. In a duel, two participants may lock their katana together at the point of the tsuba and push, trying to gain a better position from which to strike the other down. This is known as tsubazeriai pushing tsuba against each other.  read more

Code: 20313

A Superb Near Mint French Gras Rifle Sword Bayonet. 450,000 Rifles and These Bayonets Were Sold To Russia For WW1 Eastern Front and Used In The Russian Revolution By The Bolshevik Red Guards & the Imperial White Russians From 1918-1921

The French Gras rifle was primarily used by France from its adoption in 1874 until it was replaced by the Lebel rifle in 1886. While it was the primary service rifle during this period, it also saw use in later conflicts, including World War I, primarily by the Imperial Russians and then both revolutionary armies, the royalist White Russians and Bolshevick Red Guards in the Russian Civil War. Matching serial numbers to scabbard and sword, and all the surviving Russian export Gras bayonets we have had in the past had matching numbers like this superb example, but the French service examples are usually 99/100 miss-matched.

Fully conserved by hand in our workshop.

The Russian Civil War (1918-21) was fought for control of Russia after the October Revolution. A conglomerate of anti-Bolshevik groups, loosely dubbed the Whites, sought to remove the Bolsheviks from power and restore at least some elements of the old order. Other groups not directly aligned with either the Bolsheviks or Whites fought for control or independence in their own regions. The Russian Civil War was a pervasive conflict that involved disparate political and military groups, nationalist movements and all classes of Russian society. Foreign nations opposed to the Bolshevik regime also contributed troops, weapons, supplies and intelligence. Like other internecine conflicts, the Russian Civil War would produce confusion, division, attack and retaliation, intense propaganda, war crimes and human suffering on catastrophic levels.



1874-1886: The Gras was the standard French infantry rifle, replacing the Chassepot and being the first French service rifle to use metallic cartridges.
Post-1886: The Lebel rifle began to replace it as the primary service weapon, but the Gras remained in use for training purposes.
World War I: The Gras was still in service in 1914 and was used for training in the early stages of the war. Some were even converted to fire the new 8mm Lebel cartridge.

Other uses: While not a primary combat weapon for France after the Lebel's introduction, the Gras rifle was also used by other nations, including the Greek army during World War II, and especially by the Russian Empire and Bolsheviks after France supplied them with 450,000 rifles in 1915 due to Russian arms shortages

We acquired two, but each will be offered separately after full hand conservation.

We show two Russian Civil war propaganda posters in the gallery for historical perspective only. One Red Russian, one White Russian  read more

Code: 25974

A Simply Beautiful Ancient Koto Katana, Sengoku Era, Circa 1530, Signed Fuchi with Artisans Kakihan of a Cursive Monogram and Signed Tsuba, And the Matsudaira Tokugawa Clan Mon Gold Habaki

Beautiful Koto blade with wonderful quality original Edo fittings of a signed fushi hilt mount of shakudo and pure gold, with a takebori samurai daimyo lord, in court dress, wearing his tachi.

Very good tsuba in iron, also signed. Menuki of cranes underneath the silk ito. Very beautiful blade with typical Koto period narrow straight hamon of fine simplicity. Engraved gilt habaki blade collar with Tokugawa clan mon of Aoi hollyhock leaves. Original utushi lacquer saya with small wear areas. Bound with dark red and white sageo.

Before the Edo period, there were 19 major branches of the Matsudaira clan: Takenoya (竹谷), Katanohara (形原),4 Ōgusa (大草), Nagasawa (長沢),5 Nōmi (能見),6 Goi (五井), Fukōzu (深溝), Ogyū (大給),7 Takiwaki (滝脇),8 Fukama (福釜), Sakurai (桜井), Tōjō (東条), Fujii (藤井),9 Mitsugi (三木), Iwatsu (岩津), Nishi-Fukama (西福釜), Yata (矢田), Udono (鵜殿), and Kaga (加賀). Each of these branches (with the exception of the Kaga-Matsudaira, which relocated to Kaga Province) took its name from the area in Mikawa where it resided. Also, many of the branches often fought with each other.

Matsudaira of Okazaki
It was the main Matsudaira line residing in Okazaki Castle which rose the highest during the Sengoku period. During the headship of Matsudaira Hirotada, it was threatened by the Oda and Imagawa clans, and for a time was forcibly brought into Imagawa service. After the death of Imagawa Yoshimoto and the fall from power of the Imagawa clan, Hirotada's son Matsudaira Motoyasu was successful in forming an alliance with Oda Nobunaga, the hegemon of Owari Province. Motoyasu is better known as Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became the first Tokugawa shōgun in 1603.
The Sengoku Period (Sengoku Jidai, 1467-1568 CE), also known as the Warring States Period, was a turbulent and violent period of Japanese history when rival warlords or daimyo fought bitterly for control of Japan. The period falls within the Muromachi period (Muromachi Jidai, 1333-1573 CE) of Japanese medieval history when the Ashikaga shogun capital was located in the Muromachi area of Heiankyo (Kyoto). The beginning of the Sengoku period witnessed the Onin War (1467-1477 CE) which destroyed Heiankyo. The fighting that followed over the next century would eventually reduce the warlords to only a few hundred in number as the country was effectively carved up into princedoms. Eventually, one warlord rose above all his rivals: Oda Nobunaga, who set Japan on the road to unification from 1568 CE.

To many of us in the West, the movie image of the samurai in his fantastic armour, galloping into battle on his horse, his colourful personal flag, or sashimono, whipping in the wind on his back, has become the very symbol of Japan, the Empire of the Rising Sun. And, truly, to the samurai of real life, nothing embodied his warrior's code of Bushido more than his sword, considered inseparable from his soul.

Indeed, a sword was considered such a crucial part of a samurai's life that when a young samurai was about to be born, a sword was brought into the bedchamber during the delivery. When the time came for an old samurai to die and cross over into the White Jade Pavilion of the Afterlife his honoured sword was placed by his side. Even after death, a daimyo, or nobleman, believed he could count on his samurai who had followed him into the next world to use their keen blades to guard him against any demons, just as they had wielded their trusty weapons to defend him against flesh-and-blood enemies in this life. Shakudo is a billon of gold and copper (typically 4-10% gold, 96-90% copper) which can be treated to form an indigo/black patina resembling lacquer. Unpatinated shakudo Visually resembles bronze; the dark colour is induced by applying and heating rokusho, a special patination formula.

Shakudo Was historically used in Japan to construct or decorate katana fittings such as tsuba, menuki, and kozuka; as well as other small ornaments. When it was introduced to the West in the mid-19th century, it was thought to be previously unknown outside Asia, but recent studies have suggested close similarities to certain decorative alloys used in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome  read more

Code: 22207

Trollope 1st Edition Summer in Western France, 1st edition, 2 vols, 1841 Beautifully Fully Bound in Fine Calf with Gilt Decoration 10 Etched Plates by A. Hervieu, Presented to Colonel Lord Brownlow Thomas Montagu Cecil {Colonel of the Scots Guards}

One of our most popular purchases from The Lanes Armoury, for gifting at Christmas, will always be our finest novels, by iconic authors. An heirloom for generations to come, that combines to be a fabulous read as well as an antiquarian joy of considerable beauty.

A very handsome pair of beautiful, antique, fully calf leather bound 1st edition leather volumes, in nice condition for age, with natural colour aging to pages, some foxing, from one of the of the most highly rated family of English authors, the Trollope's of Kepple Street, London. Frances, Thomas and Anthony

A Summer in Western France, 1st edition, 2 vols, Thomas Adolphus Trollope, with 5 etched plates by A. Hervieu, 2 hand-coloured lithograph frontis., and etched title-page vignettes, gilt tooled red morocco, spines Henry Colburn, London, 1841,

Presented to Colonel Lord Brownlow Thomas Montagu Cecil {Colonel of the Scots Guards} in 1844 upon his graduation from Eton, by John Marjoribanks

This is Thomas Trollope's account of his experiences during a Summer spent in Western France with detailed topographical & historical recordings as well as the interesting diversions into the folklore & mythology of this region of France. It has been edited by Frances Trollope, celebrated author of 'Domestic Manners of the Americans.'

Trollope was born in Bloomsbury, London on 29 April 1810, the eldest son of Thomas Anthony and Frances Milton Trollope. (A younger brother was Anthony Trollope, the novelist.) He was educated at Harrow School and Winchester College. He first started writing before he went to Oxford University after a trip to New York with his father. He matriculated at St Alban Hall, Oxford, in 1829, aged 19, and graduated B.A. from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1835. He taught briefly at Birmingham's King Edward's Grammar School, before he gave in to his mother's idea of forming a writing partnership. They travelled to Italy, which gave rise to some of the material for the 60 volumes of travel writing, history and fiction that he wrote that decade. This was in addition to a large amount of periodical and journalistic work.

Trollope married twice: his first wife was the writer Theodosia Garrow who was staying with his mother, Fanny Trollope, in Florence. The newly married couple had one daughter, Beatrice. Their home was visited by travelling British intelligentsia as well as by leading Italian nationalist figures. They lived at the Villino Trollope on the square that was then called the Piazza Maria Antonio, now the Piazza dell'Indipendenza, in Florence. Their house was decorated with carved furniture, inlaid walls, majolica ceramics, marble floors and pillars, suits of armour and a 5,000-book library.

Their new villa was bought in part with Theodosia's inheritance. Their house was considered the centre of the expatriate society in Florence. Theodosia was known for her poetry, her translations and her articles on household matters, and she also contributed letters to the Athenaeum advocating freedom for Italy.

The Trollopes' daughter played with Pen, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Browning, when they too became part of the Anglophone society in 1847. Comparisons of the two households showed the Browning household as more intense, with the Trollopes more carefree. All of her guests were in danger of appearing, in some disguised way, in his mother's novels.

His second wife was the novelist Frances Eleanor Ternan, whom he married on 29 October 1866: they then lived at the Villa Ricorboli. From 1873 the new couple again created a house known for its hospitality, but this time in Rome. Trollope lived in Italy for most of his adult life, but retired to Devon, England, in 1890. He died at Clifton, near Bristol, on 11 November 1892. His memoirs, What I Remember, were published in three volumes between 1887 (vols. 1 & 2) and 1889 (vol. 3).  read more

Code: 25973

Trollope 1st Edition a Summer in Brittany 2 Vols. 1840 Beautifully Fully Bound in Fine Calf with Gilt Decoration 10 Etched Plates by A. Hervieu, Presented to Colonel Lord Brownlow Thomas Montagu Cecil {Colonel of the Scots Guards}

One of our most popular purchases from The Lanes Armoury, for gifting at Christmas, will always be our finest novels, by iconic authors. An heirloom for generations to come, that combines to be a fabulous read as well as an antiquarian joy of considerable beauty.

A very handsome pair of antique, fully bound 1st edition leather volumes, in super condition for age, from one of the of the most highly rated families of English authors, the Trollope's of Kepple Street, London. Frances, Thomas and Anthony

Trollope, Thomas Adolphus - A Summer in Brittany, edited by Frances Trollope, 1st edition, 2 vols., with 10 etched plates by A. Hervieu, 2 hand-coloured lithograph frontis., etched title-page vignettes, gilt-decorated calf, Henry Colburn, London,1840,

Presented to Colonel Lord Brownlow Thomas Montagu Cecil {Colonel of the Scots Guards} in 1844 upon his graduation from Eton, by Philip Crawley.

This is Thomas Adolphus Trollope's account of his experiences during a Summer spent in Brittany with detailed topographical & historical recordings as well as the interesting diversions into the folklore & mythology of this fiercely independent region of France. It has been edited by Frances Trollope, celebrated author of 'Domestic Manners of the Americans.'

Trollope was born in Bloomsbury, London on 29 April 1810, the eldest son of Thomas Anthony and Frances Milton Trollope. (A younger brother was Anthony Trollope, the novelist.) He was educated at Harrow School and Winchester College. He first started writing before he went to Oxford University after a trip to New York with his father. He matriculated at St Alban Hall, Oxford, in 1829, aged 19, and graduated B.A. from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1835. He taught briefly at Birmingham's King Edward's Grammar School, before he gave in to his mother's idea of forming a writing partnership. They travelled to Italy, which gave rise to some of the material for the 60 volumes of travel writing, history and fiction that he wrote that decade. This was in addition to a large amount of periodical and journalistic work.

Trollope married twice: his first wife was the writer Theodosia Garrow who was staying with his mother, Fanny Trollope, in Florence. The newly married couple had one daughter, Beatrice. Their home was visited by travelling British intelligentsia as well as by leading Italian nationalist figures. They lived at the Villino Trollope on the square that was then called the Piazza Maria Antonio, now the Piazza dell'Indipendenza, in Florence. Their house was decorated with carved furniture, inlaid walls, majolica ceramics, marble floors and pillars, suits of armour and a 5,000-book library.

Their new villa was bought in part with Theodosia's inheritance. Their house was considered the centre of the expatriate society in Florence. Theodosia was known for her poetry, her translations and her articles on household matters, and she also contributed letters to the Athenaeum advocating freedom for Italy.

The Trollopes' daughter played with Pen, the son of Robert and Elizabeth Browning, when they too became part of the Anglophone society in 1847. Comparisons of the two households showed the Browning household as more intense, with the Trollopes more carefree. All of her guests were in danger of appearing, in some disguised way, in his mother's novels.

His second wife was the novelist Frances Eleanor Ternan, whom he married on 29 October 1866: they then lived at the Villa Ricorboli. From 1873 the new couple again created a house known for its hospitality, but this time in Rome. Trollope lived in Italy for most of his adult life, but retired to Devon, England, in 1890. He died at Clifton, near Bristol, on 11 November 1892. His memoirs, What I Remember, were published in three volumes between 1887 (vols. 1 & 2) and 1889 (vol. 3).  read more

Code: 25972

The African Queen First Edition by Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, Known As Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester,

FORESTER, C.S. The African Queen

Heinemann, 1935.

First edition. Original brown cloth with gilt titles to the spine. A nice original copy with wear to the spine ends.

One of our most popular purchases from The Lanes Armoury, for gifting at Christmas, will always be our finest novels, by iconic authors. An heirloom for generations to come, that combines to be a fabulous read as well as an antiquarian joy of considerable beauty.
The African Queen is a 1935 novel written by English author C. S. Forester. It was adapted into the 1951 film of the same name.

As World War I reaches the heart of the African jungle, Charlie Allnutt and Rose Sayer, a dishevelled trader, and an English spinster missionary, find themselves thrown together by circumstance in German Central Africa. Fighting time, heat, malaria, and bullets, they make their escape on the rickety steamboat The African Queen... and hatch their own outrageous military plan. Originally published in 1935, The African Queen is a tale replete with vintage Forester drama - unrelenting suspense, reckless heroism, impromptu military manoeuvres, near-death experiences - and a good old-fashioned love story to boot.


Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare. He is most remembered for his 12-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic wars; indeed, Hornblower has become embedded in the consciousness of generations growing up in the earlier part of the 20th century.

One of the author's most sought books, as a consequence of the classic John Huston film of 1951 starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. Photo in the gallery of the early The African Queen movie poster {for information only}  read more

Code: 25971

A Beautiful & Very Unusual Large Antique Tibetan Buddhist Ceremonial Ritual Kukri With Decor of Dragon Chinese Foo Lion Dog's. Turqoise and Coral Bead Inset

The fine steel blade is inlaid with profuse gold alloy inlay of geometric patterning and flowers.

A most rare Tibetan Buddhist ritual kukri, by far the most famous type is the famous Gurkha's kukri, his inimitable weapon of war. However this is a stunning antique type from Nepal, very rarely seen in the west, most likely a ceremonial piece used by a Tibetan noble.

The kukri came to be known to the Western world when the East India Company came into conflict with the growing Gorkha Kingdom, culminating in the Gurkha War of 1814–1816.
It gained literary attention in the 1897 novel Dracula by Irish author Bram Stoker. Despite the popular image of Dracula having a stake driven through his heart at the conclusion of a climactic battle between Dracula's bodyguards and the heroes, Mina's narrative describes his throat being sliced through by Jonathan Harker's kukri and his heart pierced by Quincey Morris's Bowie knife. In the hands of an experienced wielder Khukuri or Kukri is about as formidable a weapon as can be conceived. Like all really good weapons, Khukuri's or Kukri's efficiency depends much more upon skill than the strength of the wielder. And thus so that it happens, that a diminutive Gurkha, shorter and slight in regards to his stature, could easily cut to pieces a gigantic adversary, who simply does not understand the lightly built Gurkha's mode of attack and fearsome skill. The Gurkha generally strikes upwards with his Kukri, possibly in order to avoid wounding himself should his blow fail, and possibly because an upward cut is just the one that can be least guarded against however strong his opponent.
In the 20th century through the WW1 and WW2 period they continued to make silver or plated mounts presentation kukri, but slightly shorter and wider blades and the criteria for presentation became more flexible.  read more

Code: 25965

Beautiful Koto Wakazashi, 16th Century, Soten School Fuchgashira, Goto Shishi Lion Dog Kozuka, Silver Urushi Aoi Leaf Lacquer Decor Saya, Hira-zogan Tetsu Shinto Tsuba Inlaid With Kinko Weeping Willow

Blade just returned from a no expense spared fabulous & traditional, fine, hand polish, showing an excellent gunome hamon. All original Edo period finest koshirae, with Edo saya and urushi lacquer.

The round tsuba is hira-zogan iron tetsu inlaid with flat kinko, and a pair of menuki of Okinawa Goldlined Spinefoot fish over traditional samegawa, and under the traditional blue silk tsuka-ito hilt binding. Soten fushigashira in takebori shakudo, pure gold and silver overlay, of Laozi riding a water buffalo, in a gold robe and matching cap, holding a gold fan. Beneath him is a water buffalo and flowing water, and the fuchi of takebori gold flower heads, in turbulent waves.

Laozi riding a water buffalo is a popular depiction in Chinese art, rooted in a legend where he left China for the west on a water buffalo, writing down his wisdom at the border. The water buffalo symbolizes strength, nature, and the journey of the sage, representing his philosophy of living in harmony with the natural flow of things

Wakizashi have been in use as far back as the 15th or 16th century. The wakizashi was used as a backup or auxiliary sword; it was also used for close quarters fighting, and also to behead a defeated opponent and sometimes to commit ritual suicide. The wakizashi was one of several short swords available for use by samurai including the yoroi toshi, the chisa-katana and the tanto. The term wakizashi did not originally specify swords of any official blade length and was an abbreviation of "wakizashi no katana" ("sword thrust at one's side"); the term was applied to companion swords of all sizes. It was not until the Edo period in 1638 when the rulers of Japan tried to regulate the types of swords and the social groups which were allowed to wear them that the lengths of katana and wakizashi were officially set.

Kanzan Sato, in his book titled "The Japanese Sword", notes that the wakizashi may have become more popular than the tanto due to the wakizashi being more suited for indoor fighting. He mentions the custom of leaving the katana at the door of a castle or palace when entering while continuing to wear the wakizashi inside. Wakizashi were worn on the left side, secured to the obi waist sash. The Sengoku period Sengoku Jidai, "Warring States period") is a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war, social upheaval, and intrigue from 1467 to 1615, straddling the end of the Koto era and into the early Shinto.
20.3 inches overall in saya, 13.5 inch blade tsuba to tip blade Overall in very nice condition, natural aging wear to the tsukaito, usual age wear to fuchigashira. Saya and blade excellent.

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: 25967