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Click here to subscribeA .550 CALIBRE MODEL 1842 PERCUSSION PISTOL, DATED 1847 of regulation specifications, the barrel stamped 'U.S.' and 'J.H' for James Harris armory, and dated at the breech, dated lock stamped 'US/H.ASTON' and 'MIDDTN/CONN', the stock impressed with inspector's cartouche 'WAT' for William A. Thornton, and brass mounts 21.5 cm; 8 1/2 in barrel
A .52 CALIBRE SHARPS MODEL 1853 'JOHN BROWN' RIFLED CAVALRY CARBINE, NO. 15699, CIRCA 1855 with barrel stamped 'SHARPS RIFLE/MANUFG.CO/HARTFORD CON.', fitted with ladder back-sight calibrated to 800 yards, the tang stamped with the serial number and 'SHARPS PATENT 1848', the lock stamped 'SHARP'S 1852', walnut three-quarter stock (butt with early repairs), brass mounts comprising patchbox cover, butt-plate, and barrel band, iron saddle bar and ring, and some original finish 52 cm; 22 ½ in barrel Sold with a copy of a letter from the Armory of the Sharp's Rifle confirming that this gun was inventoried July 24, 1855 as a Model 1853 Service Type Military Carbine with round barrel with army finish. For an account of the John Brown guns shipped from New England in crates marked 'Bibles' and 'Books' to arm the various anti slavery groups see Sellers 1978 pp. 91-97. A number of these guns were subsequently issued to the first California Cavalry, including a quantity with serial numbers close to that of the present gun. See Coates and McAulay 1996, p. 7.
A .44 CALIBRE SHARPS MODEL 1874 'OLD RELIABLE' BUFFALO RIFLE, NO. 157831, CIRCA 1876 with blued octagonal barrel engraved 'Old Reliable', stamped 'SHARPS RIFLE CO. BRIDGEPORT CONN.' and 'CALIBRE 44', fitted with German silver fore-sight and folding back-sight, the latter calibrated to 800 yards and stamped 'R.S.LAWRENCE/PATENTED/FEB. 15TH 1859' on the bed, numbered tang, the action stamped 'SHARP'S RIFLE CO./PAT. APR 6 1869' on the left, double set trigger, walnut half-stock (small chips and dents), chequered iron die-formed butt-plate and trigger-guard, and some original finish 76.2 cm; 30 in barrel Sold with a copy of a letter from the Armory of the Sharp's Rifle company recording this gun in the original Sharp's Rifle Company records of the Old Reliable Bridgeport, Connecticut plant. It was invoiced on August 25, 1876, to Ben Kittredge and Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, Sharp's Western Dealer. The list price was $42 and there were ten similar guns in the order. See Sellers 1978, pp. 211-40.
A .50 RIM-FIRE PALMER PATENT BOLT ACTION RIFLED CAVALRY CARBINE, BY E.G. LAMSON & CO., WINDSOR, VT, CIRCA 1865 of standard production specifications, with traces of finish, the stock with inspector's mark 'MM' for M. Moulton Armory opposite the lock and stamped 'C.E.B' for C. E. Buckland on the spine of the butt 50.8 cm; 20 in barrel The Palmer was contracted late in the Civil War with delivery being made in June 1865, it was the first bolt action metallic cartridge arm accepted for issue in the United States and apparently one thousand and one were made.
A .58 CALIBRE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY MODEL 1855 PERCUSSION RIFLED MUSKET, NO. 106, DATED 1859 of regulation specifications, the barrel dated at the breech, back-sight graduated to 500 yards, dated lock with Springfield inscription and tape primer, walnut full stock, iron mounts, ramrod, and in good condition with some original finish, together with its bayonet 101.5 cm; 40 in barrel (2)
BRITISH TOPOGRAPHY: 1. Thoresby, Ralph: Ducatus Leodiensis : or the Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leedes. Leeds, B Dewhirst, 1816, 2nd edn. Folio, ppxvii, 261, tp, 123, 159, 12 (index etc.); complete with all the plates. Unbound copy with endpapers frayed and torn; o/w G+; 2. Drake, H H (editor): Hasted's History of Kent, Part I, The Hundred of Blackheath. Mitchell And Hughes, 1886. Folio, complete with all the maps (one hand coloured), plans, etc. Cloth backed boards, little worn and one portrait loose; o/w VG; 3. Lewis, Samuel: Topographical Dictionary of Wales. Two volumes (without the atlas). S Lewis, 1840, 2nd edn. 4to. Recased with new spine; foxing; o/w G; 4. Ingram, J: Memorials of Oxford. Volume one only. 1843; with plates. A/F; 5. Burke: General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland. 1843, revised edn. 6. Plus three others
An elegant Edwardian display cabinet decorated with foliate inlay and ebony and boxwood stringing, the upper section glazed to the concave sides, two glazed doors enclosing two glass shelves, the interior lined with lozenge pattern fabric, the lower section having a single drawer over two-door cupboard, the door fronts inlaid with shield, armory and swags enhanced by painted lines, (height 213cm width 129cm depth 45cm) (one key for top and one key for bottom, and one other key, in office)
A World War Two (WWII) .303 Bren Mk 1 light machine gun. Marked to the receiver with Mk 1 1941. Complete with flash suppressor, bipod, carry handle and fore grip. With working action, dry fires and is stamped with all correct armory stamps. The barrel is removable along with the magazine. This item is in a very rare storage / transport case / box which contains 3 spare magazines. Complete with deactivation certificate No. DA22930 13/10/97 - Est £500 - £700
A World War Two (WWII) .303 Bren Mk 2 light machine gun serial T4130, marked to the receiver with Mk II 1943, with flash suppressor, bipod, carry handle and fore grip, working action, dry fires and is stamped with all correct armory stamps. The barrel is not removable, with deactivation certificate No.CG102548 09/12/2011 - Est £500 - £700
§ Harry Phelan Gibb (British, 1870-11948) Fishermen's cottages, Walberswick, Suffolk signed and dated lower right "Phelan Gibb 1938" oil on paper 31 x 46cm (12 x 18in) One of the greatest yet least known masters of the British/European modernist movement was Phelan Gibb; he set up a studio in Paris and moved in an artistic circle which included Picasso, Matisse and Gertrude Stein. After the war Phelan Gibb was one of the few British artists to be shown at the epoch defining 'Armory Show' in New York, with fellow artists Matisse and Brancusi. Under glass and appears fine.
BRITISH TOPOGRAPHY:1. Thoresby, Ralph: Ducatus Leodiensis : or the Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leedes. Leeds, B Dewhirst, 1816, 2nd edn. Folio, ppxvii, 261, tp, 123, 159, 12 (index etc.); complete with all the plates. Unbound copy with endpapers frayed and torn; o/w G+;2. Drake, H H (editor): Hasted's History of Kent, Part I, The Hundred of Blackheath. Mitchell And Hughes, 1886. Folio, complete with all the maps (one hand coloured), plans, etc. Cloth backed boards, little worn and one portrait loose; o/w VG;3. Lewis, Samuel: Topographical Dictionary of Wales. Two volumes (without the atlas). S Lewis, 1840, 2nd edn. 4to. Recased with new spine; foxing; o/w G;4. Ingram, J: Memorials of Oxford. Volume one only. 1843; with plates. A/F;5. Burke: General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland. 1843, revised edn.6. Plus three others (9)
BURKE, John. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry. Colburn, 1837-38, 4 vols. ------. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies. Colburn, 1838. ------. A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages . . . Extinct, Dormant, and in Abeyance. Colburn & Bentley, 1831. BURKE, Bernard. The General Armory . . . comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings. Harrison, 1878, half calf, the last two not uniform. (7)
LYSONS, Daniel and Samuel. Magna Britannia . . . Volume the Sixth, containing Devonshire. [Map, plates.] Cadell, 1822, 4to, calf. DAVIDSON, J. The British and Roman Remains in the vicinity of Axminster. [Frontis.] Nichols, 1833, cloth-backed boards, label. BARING-GOULD, S., and R. Twigge. An Armory of the Western Counties. Commin, Exeter, 1898, cloth. (3)
A 1907 Enfield bayonet:, stamped with armory and mark of Wilkinson to the ricasso, contained in brown leather scabbard with metal mounts and leather frog, together with a brass shell case dated 1901, a copy of 'Mein Kampf', a copy of 'The Kiwi Scorpions' by Brendon O'Carroll, a tank corp cap badge and two others..
A World War Two (WWII) .303 Bren Mk 2 light machine gun serial T4130, marked to the receiver with Mk II 1943. Complete with flash suppressor, bipod, carry handle and fore grip. With working action, dry fires and is stamped with all correct armory stamps. The barrel is removable along with the magazine. Complete with deactivation certificate No.CG102548 09/12/2011 - Est £500 - £700
A World War Two (WWII) .303 Bren Mk 1 light machine gun. Marked to the receiver with Mk 1 1941. Complete with flash suppressor, bipod, carry handle and fore grip. With working action, dry fires and is stamped with all correct armory stamps. The barrel is removable along with the magazine. This item is in a very rare storage / transport case / box which contains 3 spare magazines. Complete with deactivation certificate No. DA22930 13/10/97 - Est £500 - £700
A FINELY ETCHED NORTH ITALIAN CLOSE HELMET FOR THE FOOT TOURNEY, MILANESE, CIRCA 1590 with rounded one-piece skull rising to a low medial comb, and visor, prow-shaped upper bevor and bevor (the first two restored) attached to it by dome-headed common pivots (replaced), the visor formed with a stepped and centrally-divided vision-slit and fitted at its right side with a projecting lifting-peg, the bevor pierced at the right of the chin with a large hole to receive a locking-screw that projected from the original upper bevor, the skull and bevor fastened to one another at the right of the neck by a pierced hasp and turning-pin, and formed at their lower edges with internally hollowed rims intended to lock over and rotate on the upper edge of a collar, the armour finely etched overall with alternating bands of strapwork and trophies in each case set on a stippled ground respectively gilt and blackened (the gilding only preserved as traces), and separated by plain narrow triple bands 26.5 cm; 10¼ in Provenance Dr. Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York, sold American Art Association, New York, 23rd November 1928 John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester Massachusetts Inv. No. 890, sold in these rooms 20th March 2013, lot 291 Exhibited 'Faerie Tale Festival of Trees', Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 19 November-31 December 2005 The decoration of the helmet is of a style employed by the distinguished late 16th century armourer Pompeo della Chiesa (recorded 1571-93) who had his workshop in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan (Norman 1986, p. 31).His signature occurs on similarly decorated armours in the collections of the Earls of Pembroke at Wilton House, Wiltshire, the Museo Stibbert, Florence, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Armoury of the Knights of St John at Malta, the helmet of which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The design was also employed by several of Pompeo's Milanese contemporaries, including one who signed himself with the initials IFP on an armour in the Art Institute, Chicago, one who signed himself with a triple-towered castle on pieces in the same collection and an armour formerly in the collection of the Earl of Harrington, one who signed himself with a double-towered castle on an armour in the Museo Civico L. Marzoli, and several detached pieces in the Wallace Collection, London. (For a fuller discussion of these armours, supported by published references, see Thomas Del Mar Ltd in association with Sotheby's, Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria, London 26 June 2007, lot 263).
**A COMPOSITE SOUTH GERMAN CAP-A-PIE ARMOUR FOR TOURNEY USE WITH LATER EMBOSSED, ETCHED AND GILT DECORATION, PARTLY AUGSBURG, LATE 16TH CENTURY comprising collar of three lames front and rear (the second in each case restored and the third associated); breastplate formed of a main plate of 'peascod' fashion fitted at its arm-openings with moveable gussets (restored), at the right of its chest with five vertically-pierced staples bearing a rigid one-piece lance-rest serrated along its front edge and secured by a pin (the staples, lance-rest and pin all restored), and flanged outwards at its lower edge to receive a fauld of one lame (restored) fitted at each side of a small arch cut into its lower edge with a pair of straps supporting a large pendent tasset of seven lames (restored); one-piece backplate (restored) with a broad shallow neck-opening and outward-flanged lower edge; large symmetrical pauldrons each of seven lames (the lowest four protecting only the outside of the upper arm, in each case restored), its lower end fitted with an integral vambrace, probably for use in the foot tourney, of fully articulated tubular design, fitted at its upper end with a turner of one lame, at its elbow with a bracelet couter of three lames, and closed at the inside by a series of eleven lames; gauntlets (extensively restored using reworked old elements) each formed of a flared and obtusely-pointed tubular cuff fitted with a separate fixed inner plate, six metacarpal-plates, a shaped knuckle-plate, a shaped finger-plate and scaled finger and thumb-defences, the latter attached by a lateral hinge to the distal metacarpal-plate, and fitted with a buff leather lining (old but not original); cuisses each formed of a short gutter-shaped main plate fitted at its concave upper edge with three detachable extension-lames rising to a sloping convex upper edge, and at its lower edge with winged poleyn of six lames; and full-length tubular greaves (restored) each formed with a detachable rear plate cut away over the heel, and a front plate fitted within its arched lower end with an integral sabaton of eleven lames (restored but probably incorporating old elements), terminating in a laterally pinched toe-cap; the main edges of the armour formed with finely file-roped and gilt inward turns each side of the breastplate, the lower ends of the tassets, the main plates of the pauldrons and couters, the cuffs of the gauntlets, the main plates of the cuisses and poleyns, and the toes of the sabatons all embossed in low relief with foliate volutes, fleur-de-lys and quatrefoils etched on a gilt and stippled ground with running foliages, and the breastplate further decorated in a raised medial band with similar ornament involving flower-heads See note at front of catalogue for information concerning stands Provenance Dukes of Ratibor, Schloss Grafenegg, Krems, Austria (sold Gallerie Fischer, Lucern, 2 September 1933, lot35) JWHA Inv. No. 2205 Literature Hans Tietze, Die Sammlungen des Schlosses Grafenegg (Oestereichishe Kunst-topographie, Beiheft zum Band I), Vienna, 1908, p.85, pl. 8 Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, pp. 96-7 Cynthia P. Duval & Walter J. Karcheski, Medieval and Renaissance Splendor, Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida, 1983, cat. No. 10, p. 24 Exhibited People's Bank, Worcester, Massachusetts, 8 January - 8 February 1963 Medieval and Renaissance Splendor, John and Mabel Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida, 9 February 1984 - 1 November 1956 'Romance in Steel: The Heritage of Armour', J. W. Higgins Armory Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, 2 January - 3 June 2001 The decoration of the armour is inspired by that found on several works of the celebrated Augsburg armourer, Anton Peffenhauser (recorded 1545-1603) whose clients included the Imperial, Bavarian and Saxon courts (see Bruno Thomas, 'Augsburger Harnische und Stangenwaffen", in Welt im Umbruch: Augsburg zwischen Renaissance und Barock, Vol.II, Augsburg 1980, pp. 525-6, 529-34; Mann 1962,Vol.I,pp. 46-7, pl. 25; and Norman 1986, pp. 16-17)
**A COMPOSITE NORTH EUROPEAN CUIRASSIER'S ARMOUR, EARLY 17TH CENTURY comprising deep collar of one lame front and rear, in each case flanged upwards at its neck-opening (the front plate probably reworked to match the rear one and patched at its left rear corner); heavy one-piece breastplate (slightly cut down at each shoulder and patched at two points of its right edge), struck at the left of the belly with the proof-mark of a bullet, fitted to either side of the chest with a later stud to receive the shoulder-strap of its associated backplate, and flanged outwards at it V-shaped lower edge to receive, on a pair of projecting studs, a pair of long tassets each of twelve lames (the right partly disarticulated) divisible between the lowest two of them and terminating in broad winged poleyns of five lames (restored); heavy one-piece backplate fitted at each shoulder with scaled shoulder-straps (restored) and flanged outwards at its lower edge to receive, on a later screw with accompanying wing-nut, a broad culet of four lames of which the last is formed in two halves; large symmetrical pauldrons each formed of nine lames overlapping outwards from the fifth (the lowest lame of the right and the lowest two of the left restored, and the remainder composed of elements largely but not entirely drawn from the same series of armours); fully articulated tubular vambraces each fitted at its upper end with a turner of one short lame and at its elbow with a winged bracelet couter of three lames; fingered gauntlets (restored) each formed of a long flared and pointed cuff struck with the mark of a small flower-head, fitted with a separate short fixed inner plate, five metacarpal-plates, a transversely ridged knuckle-plate, a shaped finger-plate and scaled finger and thumb-defences (the distal ends of the first two finger-defences of the right gauntlet and of the thumb-defences of both lacking); the main edges of the armour formed with plain inward turns accompanied by recessed borders or single incised lines (the incised lines of the breastplate and of the wings of the couter later added to make them match the elements with which they are associated), its subsidiary edges bordered, except on the gauntlets, by either double or single incised lines, and the lowest lame of the culet, the main plates of the pauldrons and the wings of the couters decorated with groups of round-headed rivets in rosette-formation (the armour lightly to moderately patinated overall) See note at front of catalogue for information concerning stands Provenance Theodore Offerman, New York, sold American Art Association, New York, 11-13 November 1937, lot 324 JWHA Inv. No. 2471 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 107
**A COMPOSITE CUIRASS AND OTHER ELEMENTS OF ARMOUR, PARTLY NUREMBERG, EARLY 16TH CENTURY AND PARTLY BY LEONHARD HUGEL, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1925 comprising breastplate with shallow neck and arm-openings, each formed with an angular outward turn, fitted at it lower edge with a series of blind rivets (added in the 19th to attach a mail skirt in place of a missing waist-lame), and struck at its upper edge with the quality-control mark of the City of Nuremberg; backplate formed of a central main plate and a pair of smaller side-plates (the left restored) rigidly riveted within its lateral edges, the broad shallow neck-opening and arm-opening each formed with a partial inward turn, and the main and right side-plates each struck internally with three triangular construction-marks; skirt of four lames front and rear, the lowest at the front cut with a shallow arch separating a pair of pendent tassets each of two lames narrowing to their lower ends; besagues each of circular form rising to a prominent central boss and formed around its edge with a partial inward turn; and a pair of pointed sabatons each formed of a rear section of one plate and a front section of seven plates joined to one another beneath the ankle-bones by a hinge at the inside and a self-sprung stud at the outside (the breastplate and backplate early 16th century but the remainder restored, largely using old plates; the whole moderately pitted throughout) See note at front of catalogue for information concerning stands Provenance Armoury of the Freiberg family, Schloss Hohenaschau, Bavaria, sold 1861 (breastplate) Dr Jacob von Hefner-Alteneck, Munich, sold Hugo Helbing, Munich, 6 June 1904, lot 23 (breastplate) Dr Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York JWHA Inv. No. 938 Literature J. H. Heffner von Alteneck, Trachten, Kunstwerke und Gerätschaften, Frankfurt am Main, Vol. IV, `1882, p. 14, pl. 244 J. H. Heffner von Alteneck, Waffen, Frankfurt am Main, 1903, p. 26, pl. 36 Bashford Dean, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Arms and Armor, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1911, no. 1 Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, pp. 6 & 32-3 Alexander von Reitzenstein, 'Hohenaschauer Waffen', Waffen- und Kostümkunde, Vol. 4, 1962, p. 39, fig. 26 Exhibited Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1911 and 1914-28
**A SOUTH GERMAN ZISCHÄGGE AND COLLAR, EARLY 17TH CENTURY the first of notable weight, comprising rounded one-piece skull originally forming part of a close-helmet, rising to a high medial comb, struck at the left of the brow with the proof-mark of a bullet, fitted at the nape, beneath a slender-plume-holder, with a narrow round-ended neck-guard of five-lames (restored), at the front with an obtusely-pointed pivoted peak (associated and fitted at the rear of its right arm with five blind rivets designed to prevent its metal from delaminating) fitted on its underside with a later triple-barred face-defence (the central bar lacking its retaining-rivet), and at each side with a large hinged cheek-piece of four lames (restored using old metal, the right with a small patch), the uppermost lame in each case cut at the top of its front edge with a shallow outward-flanged notch shaped around the wearer's eye and pierced at its centre with nine small auditory holes in rosette-formation; the second formed of a front and rear section, each of four lames, joined by a hinge at the left and closed by studs and holes at the right; the main edges of both elements, excepting those of the neck-guard of the helmet, formed with plain inward turns, and the subsidiary edges of the helmet bordered by pairs of incised lines (both elements moderately patinated overall) See note at front of catalogue for information concerning stands Provenance The Armoury of Archduke Eugen, Schloss Hohenwerfen, Salzburg, Austria, sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 5 March 1927, lot 1064 JWHA Inv. No. 191 Exhibited Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1928-30 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 106
**A NORTH ITALIAN BACKPLATE, CIRCA 1600; AND A PAIR OF BESAGUES, 19TH CENTURY IN THE EARLY 16TH CENTURY STYLE the first formed in one piece with a broad shallow neck-opening and a flanged lower edge, its main edges formed with inward turns, later roped in the case of those of the neck and arm-openings and originally bordered there by bands of etched cabling, now largely erased; and the second consisting in each case of a circular disc rising at its centre to a prominent conical boss and formed peripherally with a plain upstanding inward turn, and its rear fitted with a leather suspension-loop and lace (3) Provenance Dr Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York, sold from his estate, American Art Association, 23 November 1928, lot 145 JWHA Inv. No. 607 Exhibited 'The Age of Discovery and Exploration', Heritage Plantation, Sandwich, Massachusetts, February 1984 - November 1985 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 78
**A PAIR OF SABATONS, PROBABLY NORTH ITALIAN, 'ALLA TEDESCA', EARLY 16TH CENTURY, AND 19TH CENTURY each of broad-toed form and composed of twelve lames overlapping inwards to the fourth (the last of the left repaired with two riveted internal patches, and the remainder restored), the last in each case decorated at its front end with thirteen divergent flutes enclosed in each case by a pair of incised lines and behind them with a similar transverse flute, and the rear of the lame bordered by a single incised line (the last lame in each case pitted) (2) Provenance Dr Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, New York, 26 October 1950, lot 97 JWHA Inv. No. 2877 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 39 The left toe-cap appears to be a rare Italian example made 'alla Tesdesca' or in the German fashion of the early 16th century (Boccia and Coelho 1967, pp. 194-222)
**A PAIR OF MITTEN GAUNTLETS, 19TH CENTURY, IN THE GERMAN 'MAXIMILIAN' STYLE OF THE EARLY 16TH CENTURY; AND A PAIR OF BESAGUES, 19TH CENTURY, IN THE GERMAN 'GOTHIC' STYLE OF THE LATE 15TH CENTURY the first formed in each case of a short slightly flaring straight-ended cuff closed at the inside of the wrist by a riveted patch, four metacarpal-plates, a knuckle-plate extending mid-way down the fingers, and the main plate of a laterally-hinged thumb-defence, the metacarpal and knuckle-plates decorated with a distally diverging array of seven flutes, enclosed in each case by a pair of incised lines, the lower edge of the knuckle-plate formed with a plain inward turn accompanied by a recessed border, and the lower edge of the cuff decorated with filed diagonal nicks enclosed to the inside by a single incised line (each gauntlet showing patches of light active rust); and the second formed in each case of a disc formed peripherally with eleven cusps and rising at its centre to a conical boss having a broad base formed with a like number of cusps, and the whole suspended from a leather strap (4) Provenance Purportedly from 'an ancient Spanish armory' Edward C. Converse, sold American Art Association, New York, 25-6 November 1927, lot 292 JWHA Inv. No. 404 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, pp. 50-1
**A HALF-MITTEN GAUNTLET FOR THE LEFT HAND, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY IN THE GERMAN STYLE OF CIRCA 1500 formed of a short flaring obtusely-pointed cuff open at its inside, four metacarpal-plates, the last formed with an almond-shaped boss over the distal end of the ulna, a knuckle-plate and a finger-plate extending mid-way down the fingers, the knuckle-plate and the plates lying immediately above and below it shaped to the knuckles, the upper and lower edges of the gauntlet formed with plain inward turns accompanied by recessed borders, and the cuff decorated to either side of the wrist with a pair of curved flutes Provenance Sir Guy F. Laking, London Clarence H. Mackay, Harbor Hill, Long Island, New York, sold from his estate by Jaques Seligman & Co, New York, 18 July 1939 JWHA Inv. No. 2528 Exhibited Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, 17 February-12 December 1941 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 76
**A PAIR OF SOUTH GERMAN CUIRASSIER'S TASSETS, CIRCA 1620-30 each formed of eight lames (the first of the right and the first two of the left restored using old metal and patched at points) divisible between the fifth and sixth of them and terminating in a poleyn of three lames (the lowest in each case restored using old metal), of which the second is shaped to the point of the knee and formed at its outer end with a small spade-shaped wing; the main edges of the tassets formed with plain inward turns or partial turns, and their subsidiary edges bordered by pairs of incise lines (moderately patinated overall) (2) Provenance The Armoury of Archduke Eugen, Schloss Hohenwerfen, Salzburg, Austria, sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 5 March 1927, lot 1064 JWHA Inv. No. 191 Exhibited Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1928-30 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 106
**A PAIR OF GREAVES AND SABATONS, 19TH CENTURY IN THE SOUTH GERMAN STYLE OF CIRCA 1550-60 each with a full-length tubular greave formed of a rear plate cut at the heel with a large keyhole slot to accommodate a spur, and a front plate cut at its lower end with an arch to accommodate an integral sabaton of seven lames, the last forming a toe-cap of rounded square form; the main edges of both elements formed with notched inward turns accompanied by recessed borders repeated at the lateral edges of the front plate of the greave, and both elements decorated medially with a pair of recessed bands (some patches of light active rusts (2) Provenance Dr Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York Clarence H. Mackay, Harbor Hill, Long Island, New York JWHA Inv. No. 2603 Literature Bashford Dean, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Arms and Armor, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1911, no.23, pl.XIX Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 94
**A PAIR OF GREAVES, 19TH CENTURY IN THE NORTH ITALIAN STYLE OF THE EARLY 16TH CENTURY each formed of a front and rear plate joined to one another by a pair of hinges at the outside where they extend downwards over the ankle-bone, and open at the inside of the calf where they are fastened by straps and buckles, the lower edge of the rear plate cut with a notch to accommodate a spur, and the upper edge of that plate and the lower edge of the front plate each formed with plain outward turns (lightly patinated overall) (2) Provenance Dr Bashford Dean, Riverdale, New York, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, 26 October 1950, lot 97 JWHA Inv. No. 2877 Literature Stephen V. Grancsay, Catalogue of Armor: The John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, 1961, p. 39
A NORTH GERMAN 'BLACK AND WHITE' COMB MORION, EARLY 17TH CENTURY with rounded two-piece crown joined along the crest of a high roped medial comb, and 'swept' integral brim rising to an acute point front and rear, the edge of the brim formed with a plain inward turn, the base of the crown encircled by twelve lining-rivets with brass rosette-washers (two of the latter missing) and fitted at the rear with a later plume-holder, and each side of the crown decorated in low relief with a vertically- symmetrical fleur-de-lis enclosed within a circle bordered by stylised acanthus foliage, burnished bright, along with each side of the comb, against a blackened ground (refreshed with paint) 26.3 cm; 10¼ in A very similar morion was sold in these rooms from the J. W. Higgins Armory Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, 20 March 2013, lot 287 (part). 2013
Medieval North Italian Barberini Cabasset Helmet Late 16th century AD. A cabasset with keeled profile, flared rim with rolled edge, small spur to the apex of the keel; row of brass rosettes to the lower skull securing woven braid fabric band to the inner face; without cheek pieces, rim stamped with the arsenal mark of the Barberini family, a crowned heater shield with three bees. 3.9 kg, 20cm (8"). Ex Lincolnshire collection; acquired 1990s-2012. The Barberini family were suppliers of arms to the Papal armoury; Maffeo Barberini was created Pope Urban VIII in 1623 and his nephew, Taddeo, was made Prefect of Rome and Supreme Commander of the Papal Army. Urban VIII was the last pope to attempt expansion of the papal territory through military means and the arsenal mark indicates that the helmet once belonged to the the Papal armory which is now housed in the Vatican Historical Museum in the Lateran Palace, Rome. [No Reserve] Fine condition, small brazed repairs at rim. Scarce.
A Collection of Irish Poetry, Song & Literary Interest Booklets; Songs of an Out-Of-Work by Tom Carnduff (Belfast, 1932), Songs of the Irish Homeland (McGlennon's Series), Verses Sacred and Profance by Seumas O'Sullivan (Dublin, 1908), The Fenian Song Book and Others. Irish Lyrics, Songs & Poems by T.C.S. Corry, Signature of All Things by Leslie Daiken (1945), A Gaelic Armory (1954), Ossianic Lore and Romantic Tales of Medieval Ireland, The Four Winds of Eirinn (Dublin, 1905) and others, also The Evil of Drunkenness (Dublin, 1918), & I dTaoib na hOibre (Dublin, 1901).
A Group of Irish Literary Interest Books; Irish Lyrics, Songs & Poems by T.C.S. Corry, Signature of All Things by Leslie Daiken (1945), A Gaelic Armory (1954), Ossianic Lore and Romantic Tales of Medieval Ireland, The Four Winds of Eirinn (Dublin, 1905) and others, also The Evil of Drunkenness (Dublin, 1918), & I dTaoib na hOibre (Dublin, 1901).
*Germany, Nuremberg, Hans Jamnitzer (Master HG), Minos and Scylla, lead roundel, signed and dated 1569, Minos on horseback, wearing armour and wielding a baton, riding towards a fortified tower from the battlements of which Scylla beckons to him; on the right is a standing warrior behind which is a group of soldiers with lances; in the foreground sit two warriors viewed from behind; on the left is the narrator of the story, gesturing towards Minos and behind him is a group of three females gesturing towards two more; in the background under a raised horizon is a seascape with ships, sea monsters and rocky islands with towns and castles; signed and dated on a tree stump in the foreground, 1569/H G, 170mm (Weber 271; Braun (von Moltheim coll.) pl. 26, 114; Wenzel Jamnitzer exhibition catalogue, GNM 1985, 557), pierced, a few minor edge bends, an extremely fine contemporary cast of high quality and finely patinated Ex Frédéric Spitzer collection, Anderson Galleries, New York, 9-12 January 1929, lot 328 ($12.50) and subsequently in the John Woodman Higgins Armory collection, sold Thomas Del Mar Ltd, 20th March 2013, lot 134. The roundel is found with or without (as here) an ornate border. A very similar lead example without the border was in the Rosenheim sale, Sotheby’s, 1923, lot 785.
AN ARMOURED WAR-SADDLE, 19TH CENTURY IN THE SOUTH GERMAN STYLE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY; AND A PAIR OF OF OTTOMAN EMBROIDERED SADDLE-CLOTHS WITH ASSOCIATED STRAPS, LATE 17TH CENTURY formed of a canvas-covered wooden tree with H-shaped base (its anterior arms slightly shortened) and upstanding front and rear arcons, the base overlain with a pair of large rectangular panels of thick brown leather covered, like the arcons, with crimson velvet (now extensively worn) quilted on its upper surface with transverse tow-filled panels and fitted behind the thighs with similarly filled rolls, the main edges of the saddle decorated with twisted silver-gilt wire braid and crimson silk fringes, and the outer ends of the front arcon faced with steels secured in each case by three screws and decorated with bands and borders of etched and gilt arabesque interlace on a stippled and blackened ground, and the underside of the tree fitted with iron hasps and leather straps; and the second of crimson satin with later canvas linings, embroidered with foliate scrolls of silver and silver-gilt wire (extensively worn), together with three straps of which two are covered with brow velvet decorated with alternating silver roundels (several missing) and fleurs-de-lis of embroidered silver wire Saddle with Fabric: Length 55.0 cm; 21 5/8 in Height 60.0 cm; 23 5/8 in Provenance Fenton and Sons Ltd, London The John Woodman Higgins Armory Museum, Massachusetts, Inv. No. 406
**A MAIL AND LAMELLAR SHIRT, 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY, EAST EUROPEAN OR RUSSIAN formed of riveted rings of oval section wire, open at the front, a pair of short sleeves, short neck, extending to the thigh (small holes, losses and minor repairs), the front, sides and back fitted with numerous rectangular panels arranged in vertical panels over the torso A shirt of related type is preserved in the Kremlin Armoury, Moscow. See Kremlin 1958 no. 23. Another from this group, formerly preserved in the John Woodman Higgins Armory, Worcester, Massachusetts, was sold in these rooms 7 May 2014, lot 50.
Nisbet, Alexander, An Essay on the Ancient and Modern use of Armories, 5 folding engraved plates (a little browning and staining), contemporary sheep (extremities rather worn) 4 in total, Edinburgh, 1718. The Laws of Honour, engraved frontispiece with a portrait of Queen Anne, engraved portrait of George I, (a light browning and spotting), contemporary panelled calf (a little rubbed) 8 vols, London, 1714. Carter, Matthew, Honor Redivivus: Or, the Analysis of Honor and Armory on an engraved title frontispiece and 6 plates, numerous woodcut illustrations, contemporary calf (rebacked), 8 vols, London, 1673; and a very incomplete copy of William Jaggard,The Catalogue of Honor, London 1610 (4)
Sherdidan, W.C.F.C of Belfast Family Jars, a farce in two acts, Manuscript in brown ink on paper, 28 leaves, contemporary red half roan,, 800, Belfast,1826, together with Notitia Anglicana, an essay of the Nature, Risf and intent of Arms and Armory, Volume 2, also The Lousiad, canto 5, Rossetti, Dante Gabriel poem and translations 1850-1870, edition 1919, and four other volumes(8)
Burke, John "A General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland", pub. Edward Churton, London, 1842 (ex-libris) Guy Francis "The Armory of Windsor Castle - European Section" pub. Bradbury Agnew & Company, London, 1904 (ex-libris) with plates, quarter-bound, brown leather over white cloth, some loss to spine, library marks and insertions (2) Please note we do not guarantee books regarding collation. Bidders must be completely satisfied with condition and collation before bidding
Mary CASSATT. L.A.S., Villa Angeletto, Grasse Dimanche [20 ? avril 1913], au critique d’art Achille Segard ; 4 pages in-8 (petit deuil). Intéressante lettre à propos de l’exposition cubiste de l’Armory Show. Elle a répondu à beaucoup de « demandes d’information sur les cubistes et autres farceurs, qui viennent de faire une exposition à New York, où la foule s’est précipitée en telles nombres que le succès d’argent a été grande, $50 000 (250 000 frs) d’entrées. Gertrude Stein a fait la préface du catalogue, une de cette famille juive des Stein qui sont venus de San Francisco à Paris pour apprendre aux Français ce que c’est que l’art, en poussant Matisse et d’autres au dépense de Degas, Manet et les vrais peintres. L’habileté de ces gens-là et l’anarchie qui règne partout les a permit de se faire une position »… Quant au livre que Segard lui consacre, elle souligne qu’elle ne peut le juger « comme une œuvre d’art […] Vous m’aviez imposée une tâche, je devais corriger les erreurs, cela m’a ôter tous mes moyens, et comment se juger soi-même, tout le temps je me disais suis-je comme cela ? Sans doute, oui – mais je ne me vois pas comme cela, le sentiment que vous voyez dans ma peinture vient inconsciament. Quand je peins je suis préoccupée du dessin de la couleur des compositions »… Elle reviendra probablement à Paris à la mi-mai : « Jusqu’à présent nous n’avons eu qu’un temps froid, peu de soleil »…
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