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Customer commentswelcome to antique militaria!
I have been a military antiques dealer (based at Grays Antique Market in London's West End until Christmas 2008) for over 45 years: antique swords, weapons, guns, uniforms, helmets, equipment, medals, belt buckles, bayonets and almost all other items of general militaria. British, German, European and worldwide items... I have provided all kinds of arms and armour and military collectibles to both private customers, trade and museum clientele all around the world!
featured antique military items
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Silver smallsword, Inspecteur aux Revues - French
This sword, dating from 1805-09, would have been carried by an Inspecteur aux (or 'des') Revues (the equivalent of Commissary in the British Army), responsible for pay, provisions (hence the ears of wheat on the guard and knuckle bow) and the depot system. Before this, they simply carried an ordinary infantry sword. The sword is rare.
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Royal Navy fighting dirk - British
This is likely to have been made towards the end of the American Revolutionary War (Peace of Paris, 1783) or during the early part of the Napoleonic Wars (starting 1793). This would have been carried by an RN officer or HEIC naval officer, and this example is interesting in having a particularly long (approx 26") blade.
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Cavalry trooper's sword by Carl Eickhorn - Turkish
The guard of this fine sword (marked Carl Eickhorn in Arabic script at the forte) is pierced with the star and crescent, the emblem of the Ottoman Empire. Almanach de Gotha, 1912, gives the total cavalry strengths of the Turkish Army, including Kurdish levies, at about 40,000 horse, indicating this sword's rarity.
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US dragoon officer's sword, 1831 model - American
This is one of the rarest of the post-1812 War cavalry swords. The Federal army was microscopic at this time, perhaps only 30,000 strong, the numbers only gearing up for the Mexican War of 1848. The design is a direct copy of the British light cavalry sabre of the same era.
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KS98 issue bayonet with DOA markings - German
This rare bayonet was issued to the German troops in German East Africa and is marked DOA on the cross guard. Only some 11,000 men of these troops at one point kept 50,000 British and Indian men at bay. Von Lettow Vorbeck surrendered six weeks after the armistice on the Western Front and, by his own account, could have gone on fighting for ever.
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Whitworth bayonet marked for 2nd/60th - British
This is the bayonet for the .451 muzzle-loading Whitworth rifle. In extensive trials these were issued in 1863-67 to infantry units, including various guards and rifle regiments. Some 8,000 bayonets were produced, the general scale of issue being some 68 rifles and bayonets per regiment. The 2nd Battalion 60th were in the Maori Wars 1860-70.
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a little history on my antiques interest
I have been a collector of military antiques since the age of 12, starting with bayonets and moving gradually on to swords, finally entering the broader military antique dealing arena in about 1970. At that stage, I rapidly started to learn about antique English pistols and revolvers.
In about 1980, I broadened my dealing coverage from mainstream militaria to include English campaign medals. The arrival of powerful auction houses in this field drove me back to my original interest in general militaria (swords, bayonets, dirks, guns, pistols, etc).
However, I still maintain a lively interest in all military objects, especially the rare and exotic, eg Imperial Russian and Austrian.
Throughout my dealing career, I have built up my personal collection of antique military prints and drawings and a substantial selection of early military photographs up to 1945, principally German and English. To aid both my dealing and collecting, I have a huge library covering all military aspects of antiques going back to the Middle Ages, and many aspects of antiques in general, especially early English silver.
