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A Cased Pair Of Scottish 50-Bore Percussion Duelling Or Target Pistols By Alex.r Martin, Glasgow, Mid-19th Century
The medals and associate ephemera and uniforms of Arthur Watts, 6th Inniskilling Dragoons
A Pair Of Highland All-Metal Percussion Belt Pistols Signed Paton & Walsh Perth, Mid 19th century
A Silver-Mounted Left-Hand Dagger, probably German, Italian or English Late 16th Century Or Later
FOUR REPRODUCTION CARVED POWDER HORNS/FLASKS.late 20th century.
THREE CARVED COCONUT ITEMS.18th/19th century.
A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE AND REPRODUCTION POWDER FLASKS AND RELATED SPORTING ITEMS.
THREE VICTORIAN ARMS AND ARMOUR DECORATIVE ITEMS.
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A Very Rare Mumluk Helmet image 1
A Very Rare Mumluk Helmet image 2
A Very Rare Mumluk Helmet image 3
A Very Rare Mumluk Helmet image 4
Lot 55

A Very Rare Mumluk Helmet
Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Antique Arms and Armour
30 November 2016, 11:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £50,000 inc. premium

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A Very Rare Mumluk Helmet
Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Of steel, with cone-shaped skull made in one piece (two small holes and some surface lamination, the interior with surface rust) rising to a faceted bud-shaped finial secured on the inside, and incised with the Ottoman arsenal mark (tanğa) of St. Irene to the right of the nasal, embossed with a slender medial band (some holes) above engraved interlaced circular and elongated ovoidal panels encircling the brim and inscribed 'Glory Belongs to God' in thuluth, bluntly-pointed peak, outwardly curved neck-guard, and ear-defences each of three plates, the first secured by dome-headed copper rivets, bordered by smaller lining rivets (seven missing), and inscribed '...the believer...to you' in thuluth, the second (minor holes) suspended from copper links, bordered by small copper lining rivets (nine missing) and engraved with three intertwined cartouches, the central one inscribed '...to you' in thuluth, the ones either side engraved with a symmetrical design of arabesques, and all against a ground of foliage, the last each secured by copper rivets and engraved with scrolling foliage, the central plates each with an embossed oval pierced with three circular holes, and adjustable bar-nasal with large riveted replacement ovoidal finial
35.5 cm. high

Footnotes

The largest group of Mamluk arms and armour is to be found in the Topkapi Palace and in the Askari Museum in Istanbul, captured as booty from the Mamluks following their defeat by the Ottomans under Selim I in 1516-17. The inscriptions on the Louvre helmet below state that it was made for Sultan al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Barsbay (1422-1438 A.D.) making it one of the earliest of the group to survive

Other examples are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (David G. Alexander, Islamic Arms and Armor In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, 2005, pp. 92-94, no. 32, inv. no 36.25.116), the Hermitage (inv. nos. 37 and 38, unpublished), the Musée du Louvre (inv. no. OA.6130), the Furusiyya Art Foundation (Bashir Mohamed, The Arts of the Muslim Knight..., 2007, pp. 317-319, figs. 304-306), the Khalili Collection (David Alexander, The Arts of War, Arms and Armour of the 7th to 19th Centuries, 1992, pp. 108-109, no. 55), and the Stibbert Museum, Florence (Henry Russell Robinson, Il Museo Stibbert A Firenze, 1974, p. 207, no. 124, fig. 13b)

Cf. another example dating from the period of Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Qa'it Bay, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (872-901 A.H. corresponding to 1468-1496 A.D.) and sold in these Rooms, Eastern Arms & Armour From the Richard R. Wagner Jr. Collection, 29 April 2015, lot 204 (£138,450 including premium)

The peak, neck-guard and ear-defences appear to be Ottoman adaptations

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A Cased Pair Of Scottish 50-Bore Percussion Duelling Or Target Pistols By Alex.r Martin, Glasgow, Mid-19th Century
The medals and associate ephemera and uniforms of Arthur Watts, 6th Inniskilling Dragoons
A Pair Of Highland All-Metal Percussion Belt Pistols Signed Paton & Walsh Perth, Mid 19th century
A Silver-Mounted Left-Hand Dagger, probably German, Italian or English Late 16th Century Or Later
FOUR REPRODUCTION CARVED POWDER HORNS/FLASKS.late 20th century.
THREE CARVED COCONUT ITEMS.18th/19th century.
A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE AND REPRODUCTION POWDER FLASKS AND RELATED SPORTING ITEMS.
THREE VICTORIAN ARMS AND ARMOUR DECORATIVE ITEMS.