Militaria

A friend in New York sent me this very interesting article on Bloomberg.com all about the craze for collectiing high-powered binoculars. I must admit its not something I had given a lot of thought to until now! Read more HERE it really is very interesting.

I was watching BBC Breakfast this morning and there was a piece on the reburial of 250 British and Commonwealth troops that were killed at the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. The soldiers had been buried in a mass grave but the Commonwealth War Graces Committee have done extensive research to try to identify individuals and give them a marked grave. There was footage of a rehearsal for the ceremony that will take place later today and it included a soldier playing the Last Post on a battered cornet that had survived the battle. Apparently it turned up for sale on eBay just a few weeks ago. I would be fascinated to know some more about how it came to be for sale. What is lovely is that with the timing the cornet could perform such an important part of the ceremony.

A rusty iron helmet found in an antique shop in the Midlands with a label on it, which said. ‘Viking Helmet found in the River Derwent at Stamford Bridge by D R Lancaster, May 21, 1950’, turns out to possibly be a priceless relic. Stamford Bridge was where King Harold Godwinson defeated Viking invaders in 1066 before he himself was beaten by William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.

Harold, England’s last Anglo-Saxon king, may have beaten off the Norman Conquest had he not had to fight at Stamford Bridge, which is near York. After beating the 10,000-strong Viking army Harold and his men marched south fro Yorkshire to Hastings in short order and his army must have been exhausted..

It was believed that no relics of the battle had survived. Nicholas Reeves, an Egyptologist, found the conical four-plate helmet by chance at the Midlands dealer’s. He said. “The possible significance of this was quite unrecognized by the seller, and even the helmet itself appeared to him to be of only moderate interest, presumably because of its condition.”

Alan Williams, a medieval armour metallurgist at the Wallace Collection in London, concluded that the metal is a low-carbon iron typical of early artefacts from Celtic times to before the Industrial Revolution. “It could be 11th century, or Roman, or Civil War,” Dr Williams said. “The shape suggests an early medieval date, and the 10th-11th century helmet attributed to Saint Wenceslas is also a low-carbon steel so it could be 11th century, but we cannot say positively.” The mystery could remain unless someone is able to identify the label’s writer.

Yet again a humble car boot sale may have come up with something potentially amazing. Martin Roberts an antique dealer from Leeds went to the car boot in Otley, West Yorkshire where he spotted a rectangular flat painted piece of wood measuring 10 x 4 inches. He swapped it for a chest of drawers and a set of Victorian glass handles worth £13. According to Mr Roberts, “It was found among a load of junk which my friend had been given after a house clearance somewhere in North Yorkshire.” His find is currently being analysed by Christie’s who are suggesting it could be the door of a tabernacle from somewhere between 700 and 1200AD. It could be part of a box used by the Knights Templar to carry scared religious texts. A dealer in Doncaster suggested the polychrome cartoon images could be of St George and the Dragon. But Mr Roberts now believes it is more likely to be a Roman stabbing a Turk – a reference to the Crusades, as well as a priest carrying a cross.

According to Martin Roberts. “"Christie's have never sold a tabernacle door because they've never seen one, so we really have no idea what it might fetch. If it sells for 600 pounds, it sells for 600 pounds. If it sells for six million pounds, then of course that would be absolutely fine by me. It's not the money that matters to me, it's the absolute buzz of doing the research and meeting wonderful people who are so knowledgeable about their subject."

It’s anticipated that, if proved genuine, it will come up for sale in December. If the piece commands a large sum, it would be a second major find for Mr Roberts, who bought an ancient bronze Egyptian artifact for £50 and sold it for £30,000 in 2007. I’ll keep you posted.

Seventy years ago Europe was gripped by the deepening crisis with Nazi Germany and war seemed inevitable. With the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of hostilities occuring in September there will inevitably be an upsurge in the media, publishing and elsewhere of all things World War 2 related. 69 years ago the Battle of Britain was about to begin. Dreweatts in Godalming have this limited edition print for sale in their auction on 8 July (the actual battle started 2 days earlier)

Entitled, First Combat it's by Robert Taylor, and was published in an edition of 990 in 1985 showing Don Kingaby flying a 266 Squadron spitfire over the Spithead on his first combat on 12th. August 1940, during which he severely damaged a JU88. Kingaby, plus some seventy-five other Battle of Britain pilots sign the margin. Included are Johnnie Johnson; George Darley; `Ras` Berry; `Stapme` Stapleton; `Killy` Kilmartin; Tony Bartley; Geoffrey Page; Allan Wright; Brian Kingcombe; H. Bird-Wilson; Roland Beaumont; Ben Bennions et al. The print was damaged in a flood, when it was torn and creased, although the pencil signatures were mainly not affected. Professional conservation has been carried out including laying the print to card and the application of a surface gloss.

A price of £500-800 is estimated. Undamaged it would fetch a lot more.