WW1 / WW2 / 20th Century

Visit Us At The Lanes Armoury In Brighton, Open 6 Days a Week, Rain or Shine. However, on Saturday & Sunday August 3rd, & 4th, Pride Weekend The Ground Floor Shop Will Be Closed {As Usual}.

As our family businesses {family motto; Gloria Antika} have been based in Brighton Lanes for over 100 years we are known around the world to dealers, historians, military families, museum curators, tv and movie companies, collectors and regular tourists alike.

Brighton will be swamped with an extra few hundred thousand visitors on Pride Weekend this coming 3rd and 4th of August. But, just as last year, we closed for the weekend, {we never open on Sundays anyway} as all the main town centre access roads will be closed from Friday night until Sunday evening. It was a fabulous weekend last year for all the local ‘service’ shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs, hotels etc. but the retail stores will mostly close. If you are visiting Brighton then, enjoy, it is a wonderful experience, and great joy and fun will be had by all. Our first and top floor web-store office and apartments will be open as usual 24/7, for the whole weekend, but not the ground floor-gallery shop. But, you can contact us here by phone, or email the partners wherever they may be anytime. But please be patient for a reply.

Our family representatives have travelled to Tokyo by personal invitation last Monday, and then on to Beijing, China in a weeks time,
They were invited to see the Brighton & Hove Albion, aka the ‘Seagulls’ in Tokyo, and watch them play the ‘Kashima Antlers’ in the Japanese National Stadium last Wednesday. Well Done Seagulls!. They won that particular match, yet the result was all taken with jolly good grace, and the reception by the Japanese locals was simply fantastic.

These visits may bear interesting fruit, we will hopefully let our Far Eastern Artefact collectors know in mid August

In the past week, as usual, we have had hundreds of visitors journeying especially to visit us from such places as Scandinavia, {including Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Greenland} from Europe, {France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany} Lichtenstein and Switzerland, and from North America, Central America and South America. Plus our usual Summer visitors from the Far East, such as Japan and Singapore.
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.

It is why we are able to offer, often unique souvenirs of combat veterans, sometimes remarkable, sometimes not so, but all are unique in their own way.

The story of Brighton {formerly Brighthelmstone};

It first came to the notice of King William the Conqueror when it was listed in the Domesday Book in 1086, when it was then called Brighthelmstone. The oldest still surviving part of Brighton is the old Lanes, {now called The South Lanes} where we are based, and during its earliest history it was a simple farming and fishing community, only 14 miles South west of Lewes, the old capitol of Sussex. Brighthelmstone was a relatively peaceful place for many centuries {apart from when it was was frequently raided, and burnt to the ground, by our jolly old French neighbours}.

Jump forward several hundred years, whereupon, the Prince Regent and his court had first visited Brighton in 1783, and it was where he decided to build a magnificent summer palace.

Londoners have been travelling to Brighton for beach getaways ever since the railway arrived here in 1841. The pebbled beach, the Brighton Lanes, Brighton Pier's amusement arcade the Royal Pavilion the magnificent Brighton Marina are the main sights, but you'll also find hundreds of pubs and clubs catering to an energetic crowd. Not to mention the fabulous Theatre Royal. Just last week we were absolutely delighted to see a fantastic performance of ‘The 39 Steps’ it was with out doubt one of the most enjoyable evenings we have ever spent at the theatre. The cast of just four actors played dozens of roles each {apart from the lead, aka Richard Hannay} and it was simply a tour de force, a masterpiece of theatre!.

Brighton has been colloquially known as London by the sea, and referred by millions as Britain’s favourite seaside town that is only 55 minutes from London by train and 40 minutes from London Gatwick airport.
It has probably the most cosmopolitan inhabitants of any city in Europe, and known by many as the centre of the ‘artistic’ life of the UK. Come and visit if you have never been, it may be an experience you will never forget. From the 2nd to the 5th of August this year somewhere between 300,000 to 400,000 extra visitors will arrive in Brighton for Brighton Pride Weekend.

We show in the gallery just a selection of the sights to be seen in Brighton, including the stunning Palace of King George IVth known as the Pavilion, also, one of Britain’s oldest pubs, the Cricketers, formerly owned by the late, and truly greatly lamented landlady, Winnie Sexton, in her day probably England's most famed lady publican. In fact it was our family local for over 100 years, where Mark and his father before him, has imbibed and conducted business with members of the artistic and entertainment fraternity, such as Lord ‘Larry’ Olivier, Graham Greene {occasionally} & John Osborne, and where, Mark’s father, David senior, enjoyed ‘several’ libations in the 50’s with Max Miller, & later with Dame Flora Robson, both late Brighton residents, plus hundreds of their contemporaries, such as dear actress hotelier Dora Bryan and her husband Bill Lawton, former resident owners of the Kemp Town seafront hotel, Clarges.
Over 50 years ago, Mark and our head coachman Bill ‘Yorkie’ Cole, carried Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey, in fact whole main cast of the ‘Carry on Crew’, in our Victorian horse drawn landau carriage, for a scene the Carry On film ‘Carry on At Your Convenience’, along Madeira Drive to the Palace Pier. See photos 9 and 10 in the gallery to see some of our past customers, friends and regulars, plus the ‘Carry On’, crew arriving in our carriage, just near the Palace Pier.

This weekend those in the entertainment industry might visit, maybe as as a member and or guest, the restaurant, pool or balcony, of the all new Soho House Members Club. Last summer we visited there, with our granddaughter, a Soho member, for a delightful luncheon, and it is just a few hundred yards from the front door of our late former Royal Crescent neighbour, friend and customer, Lord Larry, and he would have loved it, especially as it is now, literally, right on his former doorstep.

Brighton has more varied restaurants and watering establishments than you can imagine
Also, Brighton is the perfect city for vegans.  read more

Code: 24292

A Scarce German WW2, Luftwaffe officer's or Possibly SS Officer's Sword or Dagger Belt Hanger Mount

The only confusion in regards to this original Third Reich WW2 private purchase officer's sword or dagger hanger, is that it is either extra dark blue that appears black, or its black that in some light appears, possibly, extra dark midnight blue.

The “Schutzstaffel” (Hitler’s elite black guard) carried a variety of unofficial swords until 1936 with the introduction of the “SS-Ehrendegen”. This sword was presented to high-ranking SS men or new officers upon completion of their training in SS officer schools. The medium width, polished blade contained a long fuller along the upper half. A black painted grip was banded with silver wire strands and fronted with a round silver emblem containing the SS “Sigrune”. The silver cross guard blended into the thin “D” guard which ended under the pommel cap. The ferule had beautifully chiseled oak leaves in silver with darkened recesses. Swords were typically marked with Sigrune acceptance marks on the “D” guard base and scabbard throats. Scabbards were black painted steel with silvered toe and throat sections, the later containing a single hanging ring. SS NCO swords took the similar design of the officer swords, but without the wire wrap or handle emblem. The pommel cap of NCO swords displayed an engraved Sigrune emblem. Due to shortages during the war, and the fact that not all SS officers were not awarded swords, some SS men carried army pattern or police swords instead of SS models.

When Hitler’s military was defeated, all “weapons” in the hands of German citizens, including ceremonial blades were to be turned into the occupying forces. After the victors carefully picked out the more valued pieces, countless others left were destroyed by being run over with heavy vehicles, burned in piles of debris, buried in bomb craters or thrown into deep bodies of water. Despite the wholesale destruction, thousands of Third Reich swords did survive in the hands of Allied veterans to be proudly brought home as symbols of their victory. These would eventually find their way into modern collections to be prized and studied by the keepers of history.

Despite looking as a relatively small accessory to the wearing of the sword and dagger in uniform in the 3rd Reich period, hangers and belt mounts are highly collectible, because so few mounts survive, simply due to the sword or dagger, being a fine and desirable souvenir piece of German surrendered war booty in 1945, yet its mounts and belt fittings were almost always more usually ignored, thus left behind, and, or, destroyed. Some sword and dagger mounts are now remarkably valuable, for example, a first year manufactured, 1936 SS maker stamped and dated complete sword hanger belt mount not including the belt itself could comfortably sell for over one thousand, and possibly up to two thousand pounds.

This would make a very nice addition to any German WW2 sword or dagger display.  read more

Code: 24480

A Pair of 'Troubles' Era, Dated 1973, Bomb Disposal Officer's Goggles

In original case, Anti Mine goggles. Acquired from a former British Army Bomb Disposal officer who served in the 1970's in Northern Ireland 321 EOD & Search Squadron 11 EOD Regiment RLC is a unit of the British Army responsible for Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search duties in Northern Ireland.

The unit was previously titled 321 EOD Unit, then 321 EOD Company RAOC Royal Army Ordnance Corps and was re-badged as a unit of the Royal Logistic Corps in April 1993, now part of 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment RLC. With its Headquarters at Aldergrove Flying Station near Antrim, the unit covers the entire province of Northern Ireland. The unit is honoured at the Palace Barracks memorial garden and today remains the most decorated unit in the British Army. 321 is a well equipped unit and has been at the forefront of developing new equipment  read more

Code: 19421

Third Reich Iron Cross, 2nd Class. Makers Marked No. 24 Arbeitgemeinschaft Der Hanauer Plaksetten Hersteller, Hanau. 'Arnhem' Souvenir of An Ox & Bucks NCO

RESERVED until Tuesday lunchtime .From the family of an NCO Corporal of The Ox and Bucks Regiment.
Third Reich Iron Cross, 2nd Class. Makers Marked No. 24 Arbeitgemeinschaft Der Hanauer Plaksetten Hersteller, Hanau. Nice untouched clean example.

We are selling his British campaign medals, corporal stripes and MKIII Camouflage helmet separately.

It is likely this 2nd Class Iron Cross medal was from a Panzer regiment combatant based at Arnham, as it is where he 'recovered' it during operation Market Garden, together with his Iron Cross 2nd Class, but there is no way of us to know now which combatant, either of the 9th or 10th SS.

The 1944 Arnhem airborne operation, immortalised by the film A Bridge Too Far, will forever be remembered as a great British feat of arms. British and Polish paratroopers displayed outstanding courage and tenacity in a desperate last stand situation. And yet, as this book describes, the plan was fatally flawed as the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions were recuperating and concealed nearby. What followed was a bloody battle of attrition the result of which was arguably inevitable.

Drawing on rare and unpublished photographs, this Images of War series work reveals the historical combat record of the 'Hohenstaufen' and 'Frundsberg' divisions. It describes the intensity of the fighting in and around Arnhem between these elite SS and supporting units against a lightly armed yet equally determined enemy. Despite the war being only months away from its end and the defeat increasingly certain, the SS soldier remained fanatically motivated.

On 1 September 1939 Hitler reinstituted the Iron Cross (First time in 1813). The first class medal was for award to personnel who performed three to five acts of bravery in combat, and had already been awarded the Iron Cross second class. The cross has a three piece construction and a magnetic core. The cross is maker marked with number '24' made by Arbeitgemeinschaft Der Hanauer Plaksetten Hersteller, Hanau.
The cross has an excellent ribbon. The cross has an untouched darkened natural age patina giving it tremendous of character.

The Corporal of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry Defence Platoon, survived and escaped capture during Operation Market Garden, to be evacuated from Arnham, and was photographed. See a photo of him and his evacuated comrades in the gallery.

**The price shown is for the Iron Cross 2nd class only, the 1st + 2nd Class medal,and the helmet and British medals etc are all for sale separately.
The corporals name will be past on to the next owner.  read more

Code: 25377

A Superb, Near Mint, Original, Cased Iron Cross Ist Class Medal Breast Award, Numbered 26, for, 'B.H. Mayer' from Pforzheim. In It's Original Maker Coded Box. Ox & Bucks L.I. Souvenir From Operation Market Garden

RESERVED until Tuesday lunchtime .
The reverse of the iron cross has B.H.Meyer's block barrel hinge with a flat fluted vertical pin marked ‘26’ for B.H. Mayer, Pforzheim, and flat wire catch. That hinge type Mayer often used for WW1 veterans {serving in WW2} for their 1st class Iron Crosses issued during WW2.

From the family of an NCO Corporal of The Ox and Bucks Regiment. We are selling his British campaign medals, corporal stripes and MKIII Camouflage helmet separately.

It is likely this cased 1st Class Iron Cross medal was from a Panzer regiment combatant based at Arnham, as it is where he 'recovered' it during operation Market Garden, together with his Iron Cross 2nd Class, but there is no way of us to know now which combatant, either of the 9th or 10th SS.

The 1944 Arnhem airborne operation, immortalised by the film A Bridge Too Far, will forever be remembered as a great British feat of arms. British and Polish paratroopers displayed outstanding courage and tenacity in a desperate last stand situation. And yet, as this book describes, the plan was fatally flawed as the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions were recuperating and concealed nearby. What followed was a bloody battle of attrition the result of which was arguably inevitable.

Drawing on rare and unpublished photographs, this Images of War series work reveals the historical combat record of the 'Hohenstaufen' and 'Frundsberg' divisions. It describes the intensity of the fighting in and around Arnhem between these elite SS and supporting units against a lightly armed yet equally determined enemy. Despite the war being only months away from its end and the defeat increasingly certain, the SS soldier remained fanatically motivated.

Iron Cross 1st Class (Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse). On 1 September 1939 Hitler reinstituted the Iron Cross (First time in 1813). The first class medal was for award to personnel who performed three to five acts of bravery in combat, and had already been awarded the Iron Cross second class. The cross has a three piece construction and a magnetic core. The cross is maker marked with number '26' indicating production by the company of 'B.H. Mayer' from Pforzheim. The cross is having an excellent functional pin and catch. The cross is having an untouched darkened natural age patina giving it tremendous of character.

The Corporal of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry Defence Platoon, survived and escaped capture during Operation Market Garden, to be evacuated from Arnham, and was photographed. See a photo of him and his evacuated comrades in the gallery.

**The price shown is for the Iron Cross 1st class in its original case only, the 2nd Class medal,and the helmet and British medals etc are all for sale separately.
The corporals name will be past on to the next owner.  read more

Code: 25376

Fabulous D-Day Collection, Medals, & Stripes, of An NCO Corporal of The Ox & Bucks Light Infantry, Part of the Airborne Div, Plus, An Original, Net Camouflaged, D.Day Pattern MK III 'High Rivet' Helmet. Iron Cross 1st Class in Case, Iron Cross 2nd Class

The collection comprises group of his four British medals {unworn}, his German souvenirs of a near mint Iron Cross Ist Class in its original box, plus an Iron cross 2nd class, also near mint. Plus a D-Day Pattern MKIII high rivet helmet, with original netting and camouflaging, and his corporal's battledress stripes. The helmet may have painted regimental markings, but there is no way the net and camouflage should be removed in order to check. The German part of the collection is to be sold separately.

We do not know if he qualified for more than his four medals, as his family knew not either. His German souvenir medals were put away after the war and never saw the light of day till very recently, which is why they are in superb condition. The helmet was not his original service issue, but it has been put with his collection. The German medals {which may be from an Arnham based SS Panzer Division} will be sold separately, but only his medals, stripes and D-Day MKIII camouflage helmet are sold together here under this stock code.

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry committed three battalions to the Normandy campaign in 1944, with two landing on the 6th June 1944 - one by air, one by sea.

2nd Battalion (52nd), Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division

Part of 6th Airborne Division, 2nd Battalion were some of the first Allied troops to arrive in Normandy when six gliders carrying D Company and elements of B Company, led by Major John Howard, landed in the early hours of 6 June. Though one of the gliders landed some distance to the east, five would land remarkably close to their objective. They successfully captured and held the River Orne and Caen Canal bridges, securing a vital bridgehead to pave the way for the advance of the allied forces that would land on the beaches. One of these bridges was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the emblem of the British Airborne, the name it is still known by today. The rest of the Battalion would arrive by glider around 9pm on 6 June, landing at the bridgehead as part of Operation Mallard.

1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, No. 6 Beach Group

The 1st Bucks Battalion, a territorial army battalion of the Ox & Bucks, also landed at Sword Beach on D-Day. Part of No. 6 Beach Group, an anti-tank platoon landed with the first tide, while the remainder landed with the second tide of the invasion force. The Group was responsible for organising units landing on Sword and arranging supply dumps in the area. As infantry support for the Beach Group, 1st Bucks were tasked with defending the beachhead from any counterattacks.
The Battle of Arnhem and the subsequent defence of the Oosterbeek Perimeter have passed into legend and the subject of numerous books and films, meaning that the story of the Operation is quite well known by most who have an interest in military history, what is probably less known is the contribution of the Regiment in Operation Market Garden.

Operation “Market Garden”
“Market” was the Airborne element of the operation, with three Allied Airborne Divisions being dropped behind enemy lines in Holland with the task of capturing and holding until relieved by ground forces, all the bridges along a “corridor” from the Belgian/Dutch border along a single road to the river Rhine at Arnhem.
The American 101st Airborne Division were to capture the bridges around Eindhoven, the American 82nd Airborne Division the bridges around Nijmegen and the British 1st Airborne Division along with the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade the bridges at Arnhem on the Rhine.

“Garden” was the land based element with the main thrust along the “corridor” being made by Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks’s British 30th Corps, with the 12th and 8th Corps on each flank. 30th Corps objective was to advance along the corridor linking up with the Airborne Divisions and reaching the Rhine at Arnhem within four days! From there the British 2nd Army could then cross the River Rhine, the last natural barrier, and then turn into the Ruhr and Germany itself and end the war by the end of 1944.

“This is a tale you will tell your grandchildren... …and mightily bored they’ll be”
Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, commanding British 30th Corps
1st Battalion (43rd) Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Operations by the 53rd (Welsh) Division in 12th Corps, containing the 43rd, aimed to protect the left flank of the land based “Garden” force, 30th Corps, pushing through the airborne corridor from Eindhoven to link up with the Market forces at Arnhem.

On 20 September the enemy withdrew through De Kruisberg, leaving a small force to cover the retreat. The 43rd followed at night to push ahead in single file through the town to protect the flank of 15th (Scottish) Division forming a bridgehead on the Wilhelmina Canal at Best.

The advance by the 43rd in the direction of Oirschot attracted heavy fire. The blown bridge at Oirschot was reached at midday on 21st and the nearside bank of the canal was made secure to protect the western flank of the Scottish Division. The canal was a formidable obstacle but could be crossed by wading infantry.
The village of Dun was captured and where Regimental Headquarters was established until 5 October.

Nijmegen, Holland - October 1944
On 5 October, the 43rd was ordered to move up to Nijmegen bridgehead as reserve battalion. The move was full of small incidents of enemy action and manoeuvre. The Battalion led the attack by 71st Brigade to liberate 's-Hertogenbosch, which was secured by 27th, but the remnants of the enemy did not withdraw completely over the Maas to the north.
The objectives of the 1st British Airborne Division were to capture and hold the bridges over the river Rhine at Arnhem, however in the end only a force slightly over battalion strength managed to reach and hold the northern approaches to the Road Bridge. Only the Second Parachute Battalion (less C company, who were separated in the town), reinforced by part of 1st Parachute Brigade HQ, individual members of 1st and 3rd Parachute Battalions and some attached arms personnel actually reached the Divisional objective – the Bridge.

The Corporal of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry Defence Platoon, survived and escaped capture during Operation Market Garden, to be evacuated from Arnham, and was photographed. See a photo of him and his evacuated comrades in the gallery.

**The price shown is for the helmet, british campaign medals and stripes, it does not include the German medals, that were for sale, though now sold, separately.
The corporals name will be past on to the next owner.  read more

Code: 25378