Thomas Del Mar

Thomas Del Mar are auctioneers based in London specialising in arms, armour and militaria. Founded in 2005, they hold biannual sales in association with Sotheby’s.

They have sold a number of important single owner collections including property from Warwick Castle and from the German nobility.


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Holts heads home to the rural charm of Norfolk

20 January 2020

December 10 marked a significant step in the history of specialist sporting and antique gun auction house Holts (25-20% buyer’s premium).

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Pick of the pistol hammer highs

12 August 2019

Fine sets of pistols, preferably nicely cased, have long been the mainstay of London arms and armour sales. This season’s crop were not as plentiful nor so eagerly contested as we sometimes see, but there were some gems on offer and a selection of them are illustrated here.

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Siamese sword has eastern edge

12 August 2019

The huge variety of exotic arms brought back to Europe from the East during colonial days is becoming an increasingly lucrative area of business for auction houses.

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Stopping power to halt an angry tiger

12 August 2019

In the days of the British Raj there was no shortage of would-be shikaris hoping to bag a tiger in India. At the same time plenty of London gunsmiths were ready to supply them with all the fire-power they could persuade them to buy.

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Welsh art, Qajar armour and a book on hysteria – five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week

12 July 2019

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes an oil painting by Welsh artist Sir Kyffin Williams and a group of 19th century Qajar armour.

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Capital gains: The wider choice available in the London auction scene

19 June 2019

As the battle for the ‘middle market’ heats up, the London auction scene today offers visitors a wider choice of items to buy and more places to bid for them.

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The 25 Blythe Road auctions collective is relaunching under the brand of Olympia Auctions

29 January 2019

The London auctions ‘hub’ of 25 Blythe Road will now operate under a single banner of Olympia Auctions.

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Helmet tomb decoration gains new lease of life in sale

28 January 2019

It was not a vintage season for armour in the salerooms, but in Thomas Del Mar’s (24% buyer’s premium) auction on December 5 this very original English or Flemish close helmet of c.1560 reached £11,000.

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Siamese sword in Japanese style points to £42,000 price

28 January 2019

Exotic blades from all parts of the world are making headlines in the salerooms. Recent auctions have produced some interesting results from unlooked-for places, but none was less expected than the £42,000 paid for a 19th century Siamese niello and silver-gilt mounted sword in the Japanese taste at Thomas Del Mar (24% buyer’s premium) in London on December 5.

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What lots caught bidders’ eyes this week? Five auction highlights including a Renaissance revival ewer and a vodka-drinking Russian

07 December 2018

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week include a piece by the ‘crystal king of England’, a Japanese style sword, a vodka-drinking Russian figure and a Renaissance revival ewer.

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Armour that stands out in non-vintage season

06 August 2018

It has not been a vintage season for armour in the saleroom, but some of the recent highlights from London and Munich are shown here.

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Eastern weapons create collections on the cutting edges

06 August 2018

Edged weapons from the East dominated the summer sale at Thomas Del Mar (24% buyer’s premium) in London on June 27 and it was an old collection of Indian dress daggers that produced the highest prices.

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Remarkable military insignia collection displays its charm at Thomas Del Mar auction

08 May 2018

Collectors can be a hard bunch to predict. When an extensive group comes to auction – one of the best of its type – the buyers’ response may be strong across the board, or it can be seen as a sudden glut on the market and only the top items get picked off.

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‘The largest collection of its type on the market in memory’

16 April 2018

Prof Antony Charles Thomas (1928- 2016) may have been a “towering figure in British academic archaeology during the second half of the 20th century” but another area of interest is betrayed by his Who’s Who entry.

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Olympia antiques arms fair reloads for its second edition

13 March 2018

The organisers of the inaugural Antique Arms Fair at Olympia London last September hope to build on the positive feedback from that event with the second one coming up in April.

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Continental pistol rarities at London auction

29 January 2018

The same French collection that brought the fine pair of Boutet pistols to the Thomas Del Mar Sale on December 6 also included a number of later Continental pistols that were rare and certainly unfamiliar to most British collectors.

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Get a handle on the pistols market

29 January 2018

The latest recent arms and armour sales on both sides of the Atlantic serves only to reinforce the impression that pistols remain a huge favourite with collectors in this field.

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Pistols coming up at Thomas Del Mar auction show significance of an impressive provenance

02 December 2017

Fine quality and condition are big factors in value for antique weapons, but an impressive provenance also fires the imagination, as two lots coming up in the Thomas Del Mar auction on December 6 demonstrate.

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The cut and thrust of the market

07 August 2017

As weapons of war, swords have an impressively long history, as demonstrated by recent auctions around the world. From two £11,000 Viking swords at Bonhams in London to General Patton’s 1945 presentation sabre at Hermann Historica (€54,000/£47,370), there were centuries of warfaring history on view, including blades from Japan, Korea and Greece.

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Zettler glass added to Del Mar’s specialist armory

07 August 2017

Thomas Del Mar (24% buyer’s premium) sold the first instalment of de-accessioned arms and armour from the John Woodman Higgins Museum in Massachusetts back in 2013 and a second in 2014.

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