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Historic 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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Light Cavalry officer's sword, 1788 pattern variant - British
This iron-mounted sabre, dating from the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, would have been carried by a British officer in a cavalry or yeomanry unit. Singularly, it has a backstrap/pommel in the form of a lion's head, something I have never seen on this pattern in over 50 years of arms dealing. All I need is a good portrait to pin it down!
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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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NSKK dirk, RZM marked M7/68 - German
This is the SA dirk 1933 pattern, modified with a black finish to the scabbard by order of Korpsfuhrer Huhnlein in 1936. The RZM code stands for the firm Lauterjung & Co of Solingen. The top chape is engraved '15/24547' for Standarte 15, part of Nordmark Motorgruppe at Itzehoe, with the owner's personal NSKK number.
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Heavy Cavalry officer's dress sword, 1796 pattern - British
This is an Austrian pattern, which was adopted by the British army in 1796 as a dress sword for Heavy Cavalry general officers and militia units. It would have been used throughout the Peninsula War and at Waterloo and beyond until about 1820 or so.
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Naval dirk - British
These dirks would have been carried by Royal Navy as well as merchant marine officers, even, rather more rarely, by army officers. This classic dirk has a whalebone haft (which, at first glance, might appear to be of walrus ivory, but on closer inspection is definitely whale bone) and iron mounts. The style of hilt, pommel and grip dates it.
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Silver-mounted hunting sword - German
This hanger is almost certainly of German origin, probably the Oels family of Brunswick (the hereditary dukes) because of the presence of the gold 'O' featured in four places on the mounts. An unusual feature is the ovoid pommel, similar to that of a smallsword of the period.
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a little history on my antiques interest
I am now retired and this site is kept up for posterity. 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.
