Choose The Ideal Christmas Gift From Great Britain's Favourite Armoury Antiques & Collector's Shop. Some of The Best Ideas You Could Imagine, For Both Christmas & New Year, Have Come From The Lanes Armoury’. Our 105th Christmas in Brighton

Now moving on towards the end of November, as we all are, this would the perfect time to select a Christmas gift for a loved one {or oneself} from our unique and massive selection of original military antiques, ancient antiquities, and Ist edition novels. Also a fine time for deliveries worldwide to arrive before the Christmas festivities.

This is our 105th year of family trading this coming Christmas, and the dawn of our 106th year. However, we have actually traded in Brighton for well over 200 years, but until WW1 we were principally involved in the fishing trade, especially seafood. In the early 19th century we used to supply the Brighton Royal Pavilion, the palace of King George IVth {formerly the Prince Regent} with shellfish.

Every year, many, many millions of people visit Brighton, and many hundreds of thousands of them find there way here to us. In fact up to two or three thousand often visit us every opening day.
The world famous New York Times included our gallery in their list as one of the very best places to visit in the UK when travelling to Europe from America. Where else in the UK could you leave a store, after a jolly Christmas holiday visit, with a selection of original WW2 Officer’s uniform buttons for only £1.50p each, or an original solid gold and gemstone intaglio carved seal ring once worn 1700 years ago by an Imperial Roman senator. Where you might rub shoulders with a former American President’s First Lady, a Hollywood superstar, {our latest recent superstar visitor was British actor Tom Hardy, (who returned once again for another visit this weekend) another recent customer, a professor of textiles from America, who very kindly arranged for us to receive some conservation papers from the Met, or a retired Scottish teacher on a regular visit from the Outer Hebrides.

Incredible things seem to happen here every day, for example, just this week a very nice gentleman arrived after travelling all the way from Hong Kong, just to view, and purchase, one of our most special Japanese swords we were offering, and just as it was being packed up, after our business together was concluded, for its long journey to his home, another gentleman called on the phone with sincere interest in order to buy that very same sword, just a few minutes after the Hong Kong gentleman bought it, and bearing in mind we have many hundreds of swords on offer, and many thousands of intriguing pieces.
This remarkable occurrence was witnessed by one of our oldest friends and a very special regular customer, who was seated witnessing the whole turn of events, and he was amazed at the incredible coincidence, yet, he exclaimed, that so many hundreds of times he has been here in the past near 20 years, and he has seen, first hand, just how often that happens. We are truly a shop of most remarkably diverse visitors, and extraordinary coincidences.

As a former client, world renowned author, John Osborne, once said to Mark,
“It’s quite extraordinary, you can see just about everyone you could imagine here, and if you haven’t seen them yet, there’re probably on their way!’

Unique, ancient, antique and vintage beautiful items are our specialty, and be sure and certain that anything from us will be the best choice you can make this Christmas time. Just arrived this week! some stunning cannon balls fired at Waterloo. Plus, our current selection ranges from a collection just acquired of really great and rare bayonets, British German & French, antique WW1 and WW2, from a collector who wanted the very best he could find over the past 40 years. Including rare French examples from the 'Russian contract' during WW1, that were uncovered in Ukraine in the late 90's, and some French Foreign Legion bayonets, acquired from a French Foreign Legion reserve armoury depot clear-out in the 70's. Plus stunning and rare Japanese samurai swords including a beautiful, original 'Tamashigiri Cutting Test' antique samurai katana signed by high rated master smith, Masashige Tegarayama, 手柄山正繁 with a highly rare Tamashigiri Cutting Test, By Gonnosuke Komatsubara, Dated 1799 to some super Ist Edition Charles Dickens novels, and various fabulous, wonderful and utterly beautiful antique Victorian dragoon dress helmets. Also a stunning collection of historical, provenanced original Napoleonic War cannon balls and a huge French Howitzer explosive round { now inert}.

All kinds of other unique and fabulous conversation pieces, including some delightful volumes, have been acquired lately, such as, for example, a 1st edition of The Third Man by Graham Greene, one of David senior’s fellow imbibers at our neighbours ancient establishment, The Cricketers, Brighton’s 500 year old inn.

Another part of our original Japanese katana acquisitions arrived, and as usual many are stunning beauties and A Superb Choice For This Christmas, And a Special Price Too! A Very Good World War II Imperial Japanese Army Officer's Katana with a famous family's silver clan mon

We have had arrive here recently, some more really wonderful, original pieces of history. And as usual, this occurs almost every single day, {except Sunday} sometimes many times in a day if we are fortunate. Being one of all the world’s collectors favourite stores, some incredible artifacts are almost magnetically drawn to our doorstep every opening hour.

Every item, as usual, will be accompanied with our unique, presentation quality, 'Certificate of Authenticity' that will not only fully certify it's genuineness, but it will detail the circumstance of it's origin, and where and when it may have been used in it's specific or generic history.
Where else in Britain could you walk out of the store this Christmas with an original souvenir from Alexander the Great's battle with the Persians in 334 B.C, from only £65, to a fabulous unique handmade gold, diamond and ruby 'Mystery Watch' once owned by movie legend, Elizabeth Taylor, for just under £180,000, or, a 2500 year old ancient Chinese sword that may very likely have once been the sword of a king!, and how about a fabulous 'Shaturnal' a Moghul War-Elephant cannon

We are very proud to offer a superb selection of ancient antiquities, swords, daggers and spears from all the major past empires and civilisations of the world from over the past 3,500 years. In fact many recognise our unique and original selection is likely the best and most comprehensive to be seen, and offered for sale, anywhere in Europe, and possibly even the world over.

This Christmas season we can offer thousands of pieces, including, such as, a fabulous complete set of Charles Dickens novels

"Outside of a dog, man's best friend is a book. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

— GROUCHO MARX
{and yes, he was a visiting customer as well, in around March 1965}

And please be further assured, all gift purchases may be changed after Christmas for any form of suitable alternatives.

"Doesn't someone you know deserve something unique from The Lanes Armoury". Just look at a few of our thousands of pages of delectable offerings, that vary from a very rare Rowntree’s WW2 munitions factory Rescue Officer’s helmet, to an Iceni chieftain’s chariot rein mount from the Roman-Celtic war with Queen Boudicca in England 2000 years ago, to very rare Italian Renaissance 16th century prince's dagger, to crossbow bolts recovered from the Battle site of Bannockburn {23–24 June 1314}, to some exceptional swords from the Napoleonic Wars, some belonging to several of Napoleon's generals. One, is a presentational grade sabre, somewhat akin to the fabulous Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund swords awarded to hero’s of the wars with Napoleon {but fortunately, not for the 100,000 pounds plus cost that they can command today}, &, to a superb Gurkha’s WW2 military issue kukri for just a few hundred pounds. Everything is possible through our portals, for all budget ranges, from just a few pounds to six figures.

The Lanes Armoury described by the 'New York Times' as one of the very best stores and destinations to visit when in Europe.
A living, breathing gallery that is a huge walk around ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, containing thousands of original historical and magical pieces from the ancient long past, to the near recent. In fact, from 300,000 years of human history, and 100 million years of world history.

We are certainly not the biggest premier store in Europe recommended by the New York Times, in fact we are probably the smallest, but what we lack in size, apparently, we more than make up for in amazement, and wonder, and, the family have been trading in antiques in Brighton for over 104 years. Prior to that, we traded in Brighton caught shellfish for the previous 100 plus years, with our licensed shellfish concessions for the entire Brighton coastline.

For example, we added recently items that range from a Samurai Ancestral Sword Around 600 years old {or more}, a WW2 Japanese Officer's Sword With An Ancestral Blade 450 Years Old, an original late Koto to shinto samurai’s daisho, a stunning ‘Agincourt’, hand-and-a-half knights sword, a Seige of Troy era Bronze Age sword, incredibly rare original Viking warriors sword around 1000 years old, a beautiful samurai’s disguised fan dagger, plus, Ancient Roman Gladiator's rings for both for a Gladiator and Gladiatrix, around 1700 years old.

Google just let us know our updated Google entry just past the amazing 1,000,000 { one million } searches in order to find out our location in order to visit us here in Brighton, England.

Twenty Four Years Ago, After 80 Years Trading in Brighton, We Were Honoured by Being Nominated & Awarded by BACA, In The Best Antique & Collectables Shop In Britain Awards 2001
Presented by MILLER'S Antiques Guide, THE BBC, HOMES & ANTIQUES MAGAZINE, for the British Antique & Collectables Awards. The version of the antique dealers ‘Oscars’ of Britain.


In the gallery, the first photo, is a wonderful daybreak photo, taken the at the farm two Christmas seasons ago, December 2023. Showing what some are calling the South of England's 'Sky-on-Fire' Daybreak. You can see in the far distance in his retirement paddock the late Judy Hawkins's beloved former UK 'Supreme Champion' Scottish Highland grey pony, that was a frequent competitor against the late queen's Highlands at Windsor Castle. In his prime, he had his own worldwide fan club, and competition followers. Photo 7 in the gallery is old “Governor’ and his little chum “Roger” waiting for their morning apples at our farm last year, sadly, they are now no longer with us. Photo 8 is a typical example of everyday new arrivals in the gallery. Photo 9 is Judy and Holly, ten years apart, first watching "Governor" in competition, then Holly alone, with her horse, following on in her late devoted grandmother's passion, and, the family tradition. Our family have been entranced by our love of animals since modern memory, but principally dogs and horses, for over 200 years. Of course, in regards to horses, the first 130 years was by necessity, as then you couldn’t get anything done, in both the domestic or business world, at all, without them, but the past 70 years has been for love, pleasure and joy alone.
This year has been a tough one for our equine life. First we lost Governor, then Roger, then just last week, Arrow. But the many decades of joy they brought us all, and hopefully the joyous life they all led with us here, more than makes up for our feelings of loss and sadness.

The last photo in the gallery is an autographed photo, given to Mark personally, by the late, great, 40th President of The United States, Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office of The White House.  read more

Code: 25540

A Good Yoshii School Wakazashi, Likely Muromachi, Signed Yoshii Mitsunori Dressed With A Stunning Livery of Brown Ishime Lacquer Complimented With a Finest Blue Silk Tsukaito Hilt Wrap

A good, antique, wakazashi signed Yoshii Mitsunori.

Beautiful blue-green tsuka-ito wrap over a pair of feather form menuki, traditional samegawa {giant rayskin}. Higo school iron kashira decorated with a large leaved plant on a plain course plain background. plain iron fuchi.
Very attractive Edo period round plate tetsu tsuba, reminiscent of the Yokoya School, with pronounced mimi rim, engraved with katakiri and kebori on one side with Mount Fuji, and a deeply engraved shishi lion dog.

The Yoshii (吉井派)school was active in Yoshii, near Osafune, beginning in the Nanbokuchô period 1336-1392. Tamenori (為則) is said to have been the founder, followed by Kagenori (景則), Sanenori (真則), Ujinori (氏則), Yoshinori (吉則), Mitsunori, (光則), Morinori (盛則), Naganori, (永則) , Kanenori (兼則), and others. Later generations of smiths used the same names and those who moved to Izumo province are known as the Unshu Yoshii (雲州吉井)smiths.
Most of the Yoshii (吉井)blades were produced during the Muromachi {室町時代,} era, 1336 to 1573.This wakazashi was made during this era.

Their workmanship shows its own distinctive traits and is an unorthodox variation of the Bizen tradition.

By the end of the Muromachi period, the first Europeans had arrived. The Portuguese landed in Tanegashima south of Kyūshū in 1543 and within two years were making regular port calls, initiating the century-long Nanban trade period. In 1551, the Navarrese Roman Catholic missionary Francis Xavier was one of the first Westerners who visited Japan. Francis described Japan as follows:

"Japan is a very large empire entirely composed of islands. One language is spoken throughout, not very difficult to learn. This country was discovered by the Portuguese eight or nine years ago. The Japanese are very ambitious of honors and distinctions, and think themselves superior to all nations in military glory and valor. They prize and honor all that has to do with war, and all such things, and there is nothing of which they are so proud as of weapons adorned with gold and silver. They always wear swords and daggers both in and out of the house, and when they go to sleep they hang them at the bed's head. In short, they value arms more than any people I have ever seen. They are excellent archers, and usually fight on foot, though there is no lack of horses in the country. They are very polite to each other, but not to foreigners, whom they utterly despise. They spend their means on arms, bodily adornment, and on a number of attendants, and do not in the least care to save money. They are, in short, a very warlike people, and engaged in continual wars among themselves; the most powerful in arms bearing the most extensive sway. They have all one sovereign, although for one hundred and fifty years past the princes have ceased to obey him, and this is the cause of their perpetual feuds."

This sword has certainly seen combat in its centuries long combat life, the external koshirae are excellent, after being refurbished in the last 20 years, the blade is beautifully bright and elegant with natural age wear for a blade so old, with surface thinning.  read more

Code: 25993

A Very Fine Superior, Very Likely Gendaito, Traditional Hand Made Japanese Officer's Sword. Signed Tanigawa Ichishin Saku In Fabulous Condition. With all Original Antique Edo Period Fittings and Mounts

The blade tang is signed by the maker, and appears to be handmade, in the traditional fashion, from the 1930's.

The blade on this example was hand forged, and the tang of the blade is signed (Mei) with the characters 谷 川 一 心, that read as Tanigawa Ichishin saku {Tanigawa Ichishin made this}

Research indicates that this smith's real name was 谷川 慶治 - Tanigawa Keiji, so in this case "Tanigawa" was his family name, and "Ichishin" his "swordsmith name." We have seen many other smiths sign their swords in this fashion. His name appears in the Seki Tanrensho Book printed in 1939. Ichishin was active during the Showa Period and worked at Seki arsenal in Gifu, with that stamp on the nakago, Mino Province (美濃国), and look to have made both arsenal forged and traditional blades. The signature is his traditional type.

The stunning blade appears bespoke, handmade and was expertly and traditionally crafted by the sword smith. The mekugi-ana hole in the tang is punched and not drilled, {typical for handmade blades for ichishin}. it has a beautifully visible temper line {hamon} on the fabulous blade.

The blade is is stunning condition, and signed on the tang by the maker "the Mei".the Blade has a fine yokote at the tip, kissaki, with a boshi (tip temper line).

It has a traditional lacquered saya bound in field service combat leather. The tsuka is a traditional katana type with fine patinated Higo school iron fuchi kashira engraved with crashing waves in turbulant seas. the tsuba is a plain Higo School mokko form tettsu {iron} plate with five hammered Kiri mon, the Imperial mon of Japan.
Under the original silk tsuka-ito are tettsu menuki of tageha {arrow} in a yabira yazutsu {quiver}.

This is a superior quality sword for likely a higher ranked officer of the IJN due to its mounting that is of completely traditional samurai form, with simply a leather field service protective combat cover on its saya that still has its kurigata.

The IJN launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 Americans and crippling the US Pacific Fleet. During the first six months of the Pacific War, the IJN enjoyed spectacular success inflicting heavy defeats on Allied forces. Allied navies were devastated during the Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia. Japanese naval aircraft were also responsible for the sinkings of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse which was the first time that capital ships were sunk by aerial attack while underway. In April 1942, the Indian Ocean raid drove the Royal Navy from South East Asia.

In 1943, the Japanese also turned their attention to the defensive perimeters of their previous conquests. Forces on Japanese held islands in Micronesia were to absorb and wear down an expected American counteroffensive. However, American industrial power become apparent and the military forces that faced the Japanese in 1943 were overwhelming in firepower and equipment. From the end of 1943 to 1944 Japan's defensive perimeter failed to hold.

The defeat at the Philippine Sea was a disaster for Japanese naval air power with American pilots terming the slanted air/sea battle the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, mostly going in the favour of the US,126 while the battle of Leyte Gulf led to the destruction of a large part of the surface fleet. During the last phase of the war, the Imperial Japanese Navy resorted to a series of desperate measures, including a variety of Special Attack Units which were popularly called kamikaze. By May 1945, most of the Imperial Japanese Navy had been sunk and the remnants had taken refuge in Japan's harbours. By July 1945, Nagato was the only remaining ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy's capital ships that had not been sunk in raids by the United States Navy.

The blade is in excellent plus condition, overall 37.5 inches long in saya, blade tsuba to tip 26.5 inches long. the saya also excellent, the tsuba, fuchi kashira are similarly excellent plus. The original blue tsuka ito silk wrap is aged and with small frays as usual for age.  read more

Code: 25528

A Superb, Original, Antique Japanese Shinshinto Period, 19th Century, Samurai's, Secret, Hidden Fan-Dagger, A Kanmuri-Otoshi Form Kakushi Ken

A fantastic original antique samurai conversation piece, a samurai tanto {dagger} disguised as a folded fan, that the blade is concealed within. A wide and very attractive kanmuri-otoshi form kakushi ken, with clip back return false edge, overall bright polish and just the faintest traces of miniscule old age pitting. Edo period secret bladed tanto,19th century, with carved wood and bi-colour urushi lacquered fittings, in ishime black and golden yellow, beautifully simulated to look like a traditional Japanese folded fan.

A photo in the gallery from Edo Japan of a seated high ranking samurai holding his tachi and war fan. Another samurai standing also with fan and daisho through his obi. Samurai sometimes disguised their blades as inoffensive items, such as cleverly made walking sticks or other common objects such as fans. Their ancestors, the classical warriors, overlooked nothing which could be used as a weapon. Also, deprived of their swords by law in the Meji era, late 19th century samurai had to rely even more on their own ingenuity and resourcefulness for protection against thieves, hoodlums, bandits and intrigue. The blade nakago sealed in place, so there was no telltale visible mekugi blade affixing peg.
A Japanese war fan is a fan designed for use in warfare. Several types of war fans were used by the samurai class of feudal Japan and each had a different look and purpose. One particularly famous legend involving war fans concerns a direct confrontation between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin at the fourth battle of Kawanakajima. Kenshin burst into Shingen's command tent on horseback, having broken through his entire army, and attacked; his sword was deflected by Shingen's war fan. It is not clear whether Shingen parried with a tessen, a dansen uchiwa, or some other form of fan. Nevertheless, it was quite rare for commanders to fight directly, and especially for a general to defend himself so effectively when taken so off-guard.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune is said to have defeated the great warrior monk Saito Musashibo Benkei with a tessen.

Araki Murashige is said to have used a tessen to save his life when the great warlord Oda Nobunaga sought to assassinate him. Araki was invited before Nobunaga, and was stripped of his swords at the entrance to the mansion, as was customary. When he performed the customary bowing at the threshold, Nobunaga intended to have the room's sliding doors slammed shut onto Araki's neck, killing him. However, Araki supposedly placed his tessen in the grooves in the floor, blocking the doors from closing. Types of Japanese war fans;
Gunsen were folding fans used by the average warriors to cool themselves off. They were made of wood, bronze, brass or a similar metal for the inner spokes, and often used thin iron or other metals for the outer spokes or cover, making them lightweight but strong. Warriors would hang their fans from a variety of places, most typically from the belt or the breastplate, though the latter often impeded the use of a sword or a bow.
Tessen were folding fans with outer spokes made of heavy plates of iron which were designed to look like normal, harmless folding fans or solid clubs shaped to look like a closed fan. Samurai could take these to places where swords or other overt weapons were not allowed, and some swordsmanship schools included training in the use of the tessen as a weapon. The tessen was also used for fending off knives and darts, as a throwing weapon, and as an aid in swimming.
Gunbai (Gumbai), Gunpai (Gumpai) or dansen uchiwa were large solid open fans that could be solid iron, metal with wooden core, or solid wood, which were carried by high-ranking officers. They were supposedly used to ward off arrows, as a sunshade, and to signal to troops.

12 inches long overall. approx 7.5 inch blade. The black ishime lacquer is near pristine, the golden yellow urushi lacquer has some natural, dark, handling age staining.  read more

Code: 25529

The Lanes Armoury, Often Referred As Britain’s Favourite Antique Gallery. Family Traders, For Many Generations In The Lanes Over 100 Years & 200 Years As General Merchants In Brighton. We Are Also Europe’s Leading Original Samurai Sword Specialists

We are the leading and pre-eminent original samurai sword specialists in the whole of Europe, in fact we know of no other specialists outside of Japan, and likely within it, that stock anywhere near the quantity of our selection. Constantly striving to achieve the very best for all our clients from around the world, our solution demanded a holistic approach and a strategic vision of what can be achieved. A solution that has effectively taken over 100 years in the making, and thus in order to be improved upon, it is evolving, constantly. However, never forgetting our old fashioned values of a personal, one to one service, dedicated for the benefit of our customers.

We even had the enormous privilege, to own and sell, although, sadly, only very briefly, thanks to the kind assistance of the most highly esteemed Japanese sword expert in England, Victor Harris, an incredibly rare and unique sword, an original, Edo period, traditionally hand made representation facsimile of the most famous Japanese sword in world history, the Japanese National Treasure, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (草薙の剣). It is a legendary Japanese sword and one of three Imperial Regalia of Japan. It was originally called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (天叢雲剣, "Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds"), but its name was later changed to the more popular Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grass-Cutting Sword"). In folklore, the sword represents the virtue of valour. Victor stated it was the only example he had ever seen, possibly an official Imperial commission, to create for the emperor and scholars a faithful, identical facsimile of the most treasured sword ever made in Japan’s history. A sword used in the coronation of the Emperor, yet even the emperor is not permitted to gaze upon it apparently, only to place his hand upon it beneath a ceremonial silk cloth.

Our one time late advisor, Victor Harris, was Curator, Assistant Keeper and then Keeper (1998-2003) of the Department of Japanese Antiquities, at the British Museum. He studied from 1968-71 under Sato Kenzan, of the Tokyo National Museum and Society for the Preservation of Japanese Swords. We fondly remember many brainstorming sessions on our ever expanding collection of ancient antique and vintage Japanese swords with Victor, and our late esteemed colleague, Chris Fox, formerly a member of the Nihonto of Great Britain Association, here in our store.
After well over 54 years of personal experience as a professional dealer by Mark, since 1971, and David’s experiance over 44 years, we are now universally recognised as Europe’s leading samurai sword specialists, with many hundreds of swords to view and buy online 24/7, or, within our store, on a personal visit, 6 days a week. In fact we know of no better and varied original samurai sword selection for sale under one roof outside of Japan, or probably, even within it. Hundreds of original pieces up to 800 years old. Whether we are selling to our clients representing museums around the globe, the world’s leading collectors, or simply a first time buyer, we offer our advice and guidance in order to assist the next custodian of a fine historical Japanese sword, to make the very best, and entirely holistic choice combination, of a sword, its history, and its {koshirae} fittings.

But that of course is just one small part of the story and history of The Lanes Armoury, and the Hawkins brothers, as the world famous arms armour, militaria & book merchants

Both of the partners of the company have spent literally all of their lives surrounded by objects of history, trained, almost since birth in the arts, antiques and militaria. Supervised and mentored, first by their grandfathers, then their father, who left the RAF sometime after the war, to become one of the leading antique exporters and dealers in the entire world. Selling, around the globe, through our network of numerous shops, warehouses, and antique export companies, in today’s equivalent, hundreds of millions of pounds of our antiques and works of art. Our family have traded as general merchants for over 200 years in Brighton, including supplying the Prince Regent {King George IVth} shellfish to his palace in Brighton, The Royal Pavilion.

Both Mark and David were incredibly fortunate to be mentored by some of the world’s leading experts within their fields of antiques and militaria. For example, just to mention two of Mark’s diverse mentors, one was Edward ‘Ted’ Dale, who was one of Britain's most highly respected and leading experts on antiques in his day. He was chief auctioneer and managing director in the 1960’s and 70’s of Bonhams Auctioneers of London, now one of the worlds highest ranked auctioneers, and at the other end of the spectrum, there was Bill ‘Yorkie’ Cole, the company’s ‘keeper of horse’, who revelled in the title of the company’s ‘head stable boy’, right up until his 90’s, in fact, he refused to retire, he simply ‘faded away’. He controlled our stables and dozens of horse drawn vehicles up to the 1970’s. He was a true Brighton character, whose experiences in the antique trade went way back to WW1, and, amongst other skills, he taught young Mark, as a teenager in the 1960’s, to drive a horse drawn pantechnicon with ‘Dolly’, Britain’s last surviving English dray horse that was trained for night driving in the ‘blackout’ during the blitz. See a photo of the company pantechnicon and 'Dolly' in the gallery

Mark has been a director and partner in the family businesses since 1971, specialising in elements of the family business that varied from the acquisition and export of vintage cars, mostly Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Aston Martins and Lagondas, to America, to the complete restoration and furnishing of a historical Sussex Georgian country Manor House for his late mother from the ground up, but long before that he was handling and buying swords and flintlocks since he was just seven years old, obviously in a very limited way though, naturally.

David jnr, Mark’s younger brother, also started collecting militaria when he was seven, in fact he became the youngest firearms dealer licence holder in the country, and it was he that convinced Mark that concentrating on militaria and rare books was the future for our world within the antique trade, and as you will by now guess, history, antiques, books and militaria are simply in their blood.

Thus, around 40 years ago, they decided to sell their export business and concentrate where their true hearts lie, in the world of military history and its artefacts, from antiquity to the 20th century. From fine and rare books and first editions, to antiquities and the greatest historical and beautiful samurai swords to be found. One photo in the gallery was one of the rarest books we have ever had, some years ago, a Great Gatsby Ist edition they can now command up to $360,000

One photo in the gallery is of Mark, some few years ago with his then new lockdown companion at the farm, ‘Cody’, named after Buffalo Bill naturally. Cody is now somewhat bigger! .Another photo is of two of our ten company trucks photographed just after their delivery from the signwriters. As you can see we always enjoyed a very old fashioned British tradition of having our vehicles fully liveried, hand sign written and artistically painted by our local and very talented artisans. Vehicles that ranged from our many horse drawn vehicles, to our 1930’s Bedford generator lorry that doubled up during WW2 as a mobile searchlight for the local anti-aircraft artillery installations, and then to our more modern fleet from the 1950’s to the 1980’s. The green liveried Leyland truck in the photograph was hand painted with a massive representation of the scene of the chariot race from Chuck Heston’s movie spectacular Ben Hur, and on the other side a huge copy of Lady Butler’s Charge of the Heavy Brigade. Each painting took over three months to complete. When we called Chuck in America to show him the completed livery, painted in his honour, he was delighted and very impressed and promised to visit us again to see it personally in all its glory, sadly his filming schedules for his 1970’s blockbuster disaster movies such as ‘Earthquake’ prevented it. Chuck was recommended to us years before by one of his co-stars in Solyent Green, one of Hollywood’s true greats, {alongside Chuck} Edward G. Robinson, who used to buy, undervalued {then}, impressionist paintings from David snr in the 1960’s.  read more

Code: 24364

An Absolute Beauty of a Fine, Koto Period Katana, Signed Bishu Osafune Kiyomitsu & Dated 1573 The Tsuba is Kinai School, a Sukashi Round Tsuba, of An Aoi,

A very good Koto period sword, with a beautiful polished blade. Two stage black lacquer saya with two tone counter striping at the top section and ishime stone matt lacquer at the bottom, it has an iron Higo style kojiri bottom chape inlaid with gold. The fuchigashira are shakudo copper with a nanako ground decorated with takebori carved ponies over decorated in pure gold, with bocage of a Japanese white pine tree above the pony on the kashira. The tsuba is a Kinai school sukashi round tsuba, in the form of an aoi, or hollyhock plant heightened with gold inlays, including Arabesque scrolls, and leaves. the tsuba came from likely a branch of the Miochin (Group IV), this family was founded by Ishikawa Kinai, who moved from Kyoto to Echizen province and died in 1680. The succeeding masters, however, bore the surname of Takahashi. All sign only Kinai Japanese text, with differences in the characters used and in the manner of writing them.
Futaba aoi is a Japanese term for the Asarum caulescens plant, which has two leaves and is often mistakenly called a "hollyhock" due to its use in the Aoi Matsuri festival. The distinctive heart-shaped leaves of futaba aoi are used to decorate participants and items in the Aoi Matsuri, which is a major festival in Kyoto. The plant is sacred to the Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines and also served as the crest for the powerful Tokugawa Shogunate family.

The Kinai made guards only, of hard and well forged iron usually coated with the black magnetic oxide. They confined themselves to pierced relief showing extraordinary cleanness both of design and execution. Any considerable heightening of gold is found as a rule only in later work. Dragons in the round appear first in guards by the third master, fishes, birds, etc., in those of the fifth; while designs of autumn flowers and the like come still later. There are examples of Kinai tsuba in the Ashmolean and the British Museum. Made around to decades before but certainly used in the time of the greatest battle in samurai history "The Battle of Sekigahara" Sekigahara no Tatakai was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. Initially, Tokugawa's eastern army had 75,000 men, while Ishida's western army numbered 120,000. Tokugawa had also sneaked in a supply of arquebuses. Knowing that Tokugawa was heading towards Osaka, Ishida decided to abandon his positions and marched to Sekigahara. Even though the Western forces had tremendous tactical advantages, Tokugawa had already been in contact with many daimyo in the Western Army for months, promising them land and leniency after the battle should they switch sides.

Tokugawa's forces started the battle when Fukushima Masanori, the leader of the advance guard, charged north from Tokugawa's left flank along the Fuji River against the Western Army's right centre. The ground was still muddy from the previous day's rain, so the conflict there devolved into something more primal. Tokugawa then ordered attacks from his right and his centre against the Western Army's left in order to support Fukushima's attack.

This left the Western Army's centre unscathed, so Ishida ordered this unit under the command of Shimazu Yoshihiro to reinforce his right flank. Shimazu refused as daimyos of the day only listened to respected commanders, which Ishida was not.

Recent scholarship by Professor Yoshiji Yamasaki of Toho University has indicated that the Mori faction had reached a secret agreement with the Tokugawa two weeks earlier, pledging neutrality at the decisive battle in exchange for a guarantee of territorial preservation, and was a strategic decision on Mori Terumoto's part that later backfired.

Fukushima's attack was slowly gaining ground, but this came at the cost of exposing their flank to attack from across the Fuji River by Otani Yoshitsugu, who took advantage of this opportunity. Just past Otani's forces were those of Kobayakawa Hideaki on Mount Matsuo.

Kobayakawa was one of the daimyos that had been courted by Tokugawa. Even though he had agreed to defect to Tokugawa's side, in the actual battle he was hesitant and remained neutral. As the battle grew more intense, Tokugawa finally ordered arquebuses to fire at Kobayakawa's position on Mount Matsuo to force Kobayakawa to make his choice. At that point Kobayakawa joined the battle as a member of the Eastern Army. His forces charged Otani's position, which did not end well for Kobayakawa. Otani's forces had dry gunpowder, so they opened fire on the turncoats, making the charge of 16,000 men mostly ineffective. However, he was already engaging forces under the command of Todo Takatora, Kyogoku Takatsugu, and Oda Yuraku when Kobayakawa charged. At this point, the buffer Otani established was outnumbered. Seeing this, Western Army generals Wakisaka Yasuharu, Ogawa Suketada, Akaza Naoyasu, and Kutsuki Mototsuna switched sides. The blade is showing a very small, combat, sword to sword, thrust from a blade tip, or, possibly a deflected arrow impact, this tiny wound so to speak should never be polished away, this is known as a most honourable battle scar, and certainly no detriment to the blade, and that likely saved the owner of the swords life in a hand to hand combat situation. See close up photo 9 in the gallery, tiny impact of around 1mm with slight bruising below over a maximum total length 5mm, max impact depth around 1mm  read more

Code: 23305

A Fine Signed Shinto O-Tanto Signed Yamoto Daijo Kanehiro.

Signed Shinto Tanto, by a master smith bearing the honorific title Assistant Lord of Yamoto.
A Samurai's personal dagger signed Yamoto Daijo Kanehiro. A Smith who had a very high ranking title A very nice signed Tanto, in full polish, with an early, Koto, Kamakuribori Style Iron Tsuba. The tsuba is probably Muromachi period around 1450, carved in low relief to one side. 6.5cm. Plain early iron Koshira. The blade in nice polish, itami grain and a medium wide sugaha hamon signed with his high ranking official title Yamoto Daijo Kanehiro [Kane Hiro, Assistant Lord of Yamoto Province] circa 1660. He lived in Saga province. Superb original Edo period ribbed lacquer saya.the saya has a usual side pocket to fit a kozuka utility knife. These knives were always a separate non matching and disconnected part of the dagger. Black silk binding over silver feather menuki. The samurai were bound by a code of honour, discipline and morality known as Bushido or ?The Way of the Warrior.? If a samurai violated this code of honour (or was captured in battle), a gruesome ritual suicide was the chosen method of punishment and atonement. The ritual suicide of a samurai or Seppuku can be either a voluntary act or a punishment, undertakan usually with his tanto or wakazashi. The ritual suicide of a samurai was generally seen as an extremely honourable way to die, after death in combat.  read more

Code: 20930

An Exceptionally Handsome 500 Year Old Samurai Katana, Signed Bizen Osafune ju Kanemitsu, A Museum Quality Piece of Early Samurai History

In a classic and highly sophisticated all black ensemble of koshirae, and a sword that has a breathtakingly impressive curvature. It has all its original Edo mounts, of patinated copper, decorated with takebori relief dragons, an early iron Koto o-sukashi tsuba, a stunning, original, Edo period uniformly narrow ribbed black urushi lacquer saya, in super bright and glossy original condition. Deeply curved blade showing an outstanding active and vibrant hamon in great polish. The tsukaito is over-lacquered silk, in black, over-wrapped on pure gold and shakudo menuki which in turn are on traditional samegawa giant rayskin.

The activity in the hamon is, simply, spectacularly beautiful, and shows the wide Hi horimono groove on one side and a double Bo Hi on the other side of the blade face.

The Incredible Story of Japanese Lacquer on Samurai Swords Scabbards, called Saya

Japanese lacquer, or urushi, is a transformative and highly prized material that has been refined for over 7000 years.

Cherished for its infinite versatility, urushi is a distinctive art form that has spread across all facets of Japanese culture from the tea ceremony to the saya scabbards of samurai swords

Japanese artists created their own style and perfected the art of decorated lacquerware during the 8th century. Japanese lacquer skills reached its peak as early as the twelfth century, at the end of the Heian period (794-1185). This skill was passed on from father to son and from master to apprentice.

Some provinces of Japan were famous for their contribution to this art: the province of Edo (later Tokyo), for example, produced the most beautiful lacquered pieces from the 17th to the 18th centuries. Lords and shoguns privately employed lacquerers to produce ceremonial and decorative objects for their homes and palaces.

The varnish used in Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the urushi tree, also known as the lacquer tree or the Japanese varnish tree (Rhus vernacifera), which mainly grows in Japan and China, as well as Southeast Asia. Japanese lacquer, 漆 urushi, is made from the sap of the lacquer tree. The tree must be tapped carefully, as in its raw form the liquid is poisonous to the touch, and even breathing in the fumes can be dangerous. But people in Japan have been working with this material for many millennia, so there has been time to refine the technique!

Flowing from incisions made in the bark, the sap, or raw lacquer is a viscous greyish-white juice. The harvesting of the resin can only be done in very small quantities.
Three to five years after being harvested, the resin is treated to make an extremely resistant, honey-textured lacquer. After filtering, homogenization and dehydration, the sap becomes transparent and can be tinted in black, red, yellow, green or brown.

Once applied on an object, lacquer is dried under very precise conditions: a temperature between 25 and 30°C and a humidity level between 75 and 80%. Its harvesting and highly technical processing make urushi an expensive raw material applied in exceptionally fine successive layers, on objects such as bowls or boxes.After heating and filtering, urushi can be applied directly to a solid, usually wooden, base. Pure urushi dries into a transparent film, while the more familiar black and red colours are created by adding minerals to the material. Each layer is left to dry and polished before the next layer is added. This process can be very time-consuming and labor-intensive, which contributes to the desirability, and high costs, of traditionally made lacquer goods. The skills and techniques of Japanese lacquer have been passed down through the generations for many centuries. For four hundred years, the master artisans of Zohiko’s Kyoto workshop have provided refined lacquer articles for the imperial household . Overall 37.75 inches long, blade tsuba to tip 27 inches  read more

Code: 24324

1st Edition James Bond, Octopussy & The Living Daylights, by Ian Fleming

1st Edition, 1st Impression second issue jacket. Published by Jonathan Cape, 1966. Octopussy and The Living Daylights (sometimes published as Octopussy) is the fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming in the Bond series. The book is a collection of short stories published posthumously in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 23 June 1966.

The book originally contained just two stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights", with subsequent editions also carrying firstly "The Property of a Lady" and then "007 in New York". The stories were first published in different publications, with "Octopussy" first serialised in the Daily Express in October 1965. "The Living Daylights" had first appeared in The Sunday Times on 4 February 1962; "The Property of a Lady" was published in November 1963 in a Sotheby's publication, The Ivory Hammer, whilst "007 in New York" first appeared in the New York Herald Tribune in October 1963.

The two original stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights", were both adapted for publication in comic strip format in the Daily Express in 1966–1967. Elements from the stories have also been used in the Eon Productions Bond films. The first, Octopussy, starring Roger Moore as James Bond, was released in 1983 as the thirteenth film in the series and provided the back story for the film Octopussy's family, while "The Property of a Lady" was more closely adapted for an auction sequence in the film. The Living Daylights, released in 1987, was the fifteenth Bond film produced by Eon and starred Timothy Dalton in his first appearance as Bond.On the morning of 12 August 1964, Fleming died of a heart attack; eight months later, The Man with the Golden Gun was published.8 The rights to Fleming's works were held by Glidrose Productions (now Ian Fleming Publications) and it was decided by the company that two short stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights", would be published in 1966The story "Octopussy" was written in early 1962 at Fleming's Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. The story is told in the manner of "Quantum of Solace", with Bond as catalyst for story told in flashback, rather than as a main character for action. Fleming originally titled "The Living Daylights" as "Trigger Finger", although when it first appeared, in The Sunday Times colour supplement of 4 February 1962, it was under the title of "Berlin Escape". It was also published in the June 1962 issue of the American magazine Argosy under the same name
As with his previous novels, Fleming used events from his past as elements in his novel. Whilst at Kitzbühel in the 1930s, Fleming's car, a Standard Tourer, had been struck by a train at a level crossing and he had been dragged fifty yards down the track. From that time on he had associated trains with death, which led to their use as a plot device not just in The Man with the Golden Gun, but also in Diamonds Are Forever and From Russia, with Love. To show just how much all things original Bond are appreciated in the world of collectors the Walther pistol used by Connery in the poster of From Russia With Love, in 1963, and also drawn in the man With The Golden Gun poster as shown here an air pistol, .177 (4.5mm) Walther 'LP MOD.53' Air Pistol, Serial No. 054159, was sold by Christies in 2010 with an estimate of £15,000 to £20,000 for an incredible £277,000. We dropped out of the bidding at £22,000 Incredible in that it was never used in any film, was an air pistol not a real automatic, and only used in promotional posters. It was 'said' to have been used by accident in fact as they couldn't find a correct Walther.. A full set of 1st edition Ian Fleming's 14 James Bond novels published by Jonathan Cape between 1953-1966 could now cost in the region of £90,000. Comprising: Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, Dr No, Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and the Living Daylights.  read more

Code: 25090

C15th Illuminated Medieval French Book of Hours Manuscript Leaf. From Around The Time of The Battle of Agincourt or Later

A vellum manuscript leaf from a French Book of Hours, illuminated in gold leaf, blue and red ink; recto and verso each with 16 lines of Latin text in blackletter script.
A simply beautiful 15th century vellum leaf from a 'Book of Hours' written in Paris, with a block of text lines to each side in batarde script with use of gold leaf; coloured filler blocks with white detailing, gold leaf . Fine condition.

Books of hours were the most popular books for laypeople in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. They contained sets of prayers to be performed throughout the hours of the day and night. These books were often designed to be visually appealing, and wealthy patrons commissioned leading artists to work on them. The manuscript also contained illustrations of hell which acted as reminders that behaviour on Earth would determine the destination of their soul. Scenes within some manuscripts of this type may show people being captured, tortured and eaten by monsters and demons. Many were illuminated with miniatures, decorated initials and floral borders. Paper was rare and most Books of Hours were composed of sheets of parchment made from skins of animals, usually sheep or goats the finest were called vellum. By the 14th century, the cloisters of monks writing in the scriptorium had almost fully given way to urban scriptoria, especially in Paris, Rome and the Netherlands. While the process of creating an illuminated manuscript did not change, the move from monasteries to alternative settings was a radical step. Demand for manuscripts grew to an extent that Monastic libraries began to employ secular scribes and illuminators. These individuals often lived close to the monastery and, in instances, dressed as monks whenever they entered the monastery, but were allowed to leave at the end of the day. In reality, illuminators were often well known and acclaimed and many of their identities have survived.

First, the manuscript was "sent to the rubricator, who added (in red or other colours) the titles, headlines, the initials of chapters and sections, the notes and so on; and then – if the book was to be illustrated – it was sent to the illuminator". In the case of some manuscripts the writing would "undoubtedly have been discussed initially between the patron and the scribe but by the time that the written gathering were sent off to the illuminator there was no longer any scope for innovation"
FOOTNOTES:
c.1460 A.D. by a French scribe.

Every item is accompanied with our unique, Certificate of Authenticity. Of course any certificate of authenticity, given by even the best specialist dealers, in any field, all around the world, is simply a piece of paper,…however, ours is backed up with the fact we are the largest dealers of our kind in the world, with over 100 years and four generation’s of professional trading experience behind us  read more

Code: 24524