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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 Fine German Riding (Reiter) Sword image 1
A Fine German Riding (Reiter) Sword image 2
Lot 107*

A Fine German Riding (Reiter) Sword
German Or Italian, Circa 1570-80

Antique Arms and Armour Including The Ray Wilkinson Collection
24 May 2023, 10:30 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £7,680 inc. premium

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A Fine German Riding (Reiter) Sword
German Or Italian, Circa 1570-80

With broad single-edged blade fullered along the back on each side and double-edged towards the triangular point, the forte on one side incised with latten-lined running wolf mark, rectangular ricasso struck along one edge on both sides with a 'pi' mark between mullet marks, blackened hilt of bars of circular section composed of horizontally recurved quillons each with swelling tip, outer-guard of two rings swelling at their centres, downcurved arms, inner-guard of three merging diagonal bars surmounted by a thumb-ring, heavy spherical pommel with integral button, original tapering flattened wooden grip retaining the remains of its original binding, and in fine condition retaining much of its original blackened finish
100 cm. blade

Footnotes

Provenance
Thomas Del Mar Ltd In association with Sotheby's, London, Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria, 26 June 2007, lot 153

The hilt is similar to that found on a number of similar swords at Schloss Ambras near Innsbruck, and a large number stamped with the so-called pi mark are in the Zeughaus, Graz. An almost identical sword struck with the same marks on the blade is in the Royal Armouries, Turin. See C. Bertolotto et al, L'Armeria Reale di Torino, 1982, p. 355, no. 128. See also A.V.B. Norman, Wallace Collection Catalogues, European Arms And Armour Supplement, 1986, pp. 140-141. Norman notes 'This type of bladesmith's mark resembling the Greek letter pi under a crown is very common on sword blades....H. Nickel, however, more recently [Waffen- und Kostümkunde, 1981, pp. 101-109] suggested that, since it was very widespread, it was probably a mark used spuriously at a number of centres to indicated supposed quality, in the same way that the Toledo mark and the signature of Andrea Ferrara were widely forged.'

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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.