Militaria & Ethnographica Sale Results

A good pair of 19^th Century percussion target/duelling pistols by Strowse of Brompton (Kent) were the top lot in the Militaria and Ethnographica Sale at Tennants on 8^th March. With octagonal twist-steel barrels and foliate engraving to the breech, tang and hammer, this good pair sold for £3,200 (plus buyer’s premium). A further pair of 19^th Century percussion duelling/officer’s pistols also sold well. Made by William Chance and Son, the pair sold for £2,200 plus buyer’s premium.

Elsewhere in the sale a German Third Reich Waffen-SS infantry officer’s peaked cap sold for £1,500 (plus buyer’s premium), and a 19^th Century percussion four-barrel turn-over sporting gun sold for £1,000 (plus buyer’s premium), well above the £300-400 estimate. Also of note were a George V 1854 Pattern Sword to an Officer of the Welsh Guard, selling for £750 (plus buyer’s premium) and a group of seven medals awarded to Captain (Major) William Ivor Bell of the Royal Engineers sold for £700 (plus buyer’s premium). The group included a Military Cross, a Belgian Croix de Guerre.

In the Ethnographica section of the sale, a Masai buffalo hide shield from Kenya sold for £900 (plus buyer’s premium). The shield had unusual scarified and red stained frond-like decoration – and sold for nine times the lower estimate. Finally, an early 20^th Century Samoan sword club sold for £700 (plus buyer’s premium).

The sale resulted in a total hammer price of £57,270 for 243 lots, with a 94% sold rate.

We are currently accepting lots for the next sale of Militaria and Ethnographica on 5^th June.

View results