Arms, Armour & Militaria

Kent auction house C&T has set up a US operation for militaria consignments.

With 39,000 of these campaign honours given out, which ones can generate extra demand and achieve higher prices?

Medals awarded to a gallant soldier who was gassed in the First World War were sold at auction just a few minutes’ walk from the house where he was born.

The personal stories behind medals are becoming increasingly relevant to collectors.

In its earliest days flying was frequently lethal, in and out of combat.

By the end of the First World War it has been estimated that over eight million horses had died.

Vice Admiral Davidge Gould was the last surviving member of Nelson’s Band of Brothers, dying in 1847

Specialist buyers turn out in force to bid for rusty ‘warts and all’ weapons amassed by dealer-collector

A selection of militaria with solid Sussex interest appeared at Lewes saleroom Wallis & Wallis (22% buyer’s premium).

A pair of militaria highlights related to Irish regiments that came up in recent auctions.

While London gun-makers featured heavily – and lucratively – at Gavin Gardiner’s (25% buyer’s premium) auction of Modern & Vintage Sporting Guns on December 14, provincial makers also got a look in.

A rare Second World War helmet worn by members of a little-known unit of the UK home front comes for sale at Sworders on February 7.

Birmingham-born Roy Elvis (1944- 2022) inherited his family interest in antiques and started collecting furniture and decorative arts from an early age.

At first glance this early 18th century British-made sporting flintlock is nothing particularly out of the ordinary, despite being impressively engraved and relief carved.

Top result from the October 26 arms and armour auction at Munich saleroom Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) was a 5ft 6in (1.67m) two-hand sword made by the acclaimed bladesmith Wolfgang Stantler II of Passau, c.1580.

A ‘Siege of Louisbourg’ powder horn belonging to one Ranger Abijah Smith sold for $17,500 (£15,200) at Bonhams Skinner in an auction on September 28 in Massachusetts.

This Victorian purse gun was designed by Oscar Frankenau from Nuremberg and patented in both the UK and the US in 1876.

Estimated at just £60-90, this English Civil War-era mortuary sword sold for £2300 at Unique Auctions (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Lincoln on October 22.

Chris Wynne dedicated his collecting energies to early guns by a London maker that became an international brand

Once thought to have been made in antiquity, bucklers are now understood to have been late medieval or Tudor small shields.