A very rare Middle Bronze Age Complete Spearhead, found by a metal detectorist in Northumberland, is to be sold in the Militaria and Ethnographica Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 25th June. The spearhead dates from circa 1550-1250 BC and is made from copper alloy; it is sold with a report from the Portable Antiquities Scheme and will be sold with an estimate of £300-500 (all figures exclude buyer’s premium).
Medals are one of the most evocative areas of collecting in the field of Militaria, and a good offering in the sale includes a First World War DSC Group of Medals, which were awarded to Captain George F. Hiles, Master of S.S. Portaferry, which rescued the crew of a French steamer after she had been torpedoed by an enemy submarine in 1917 (estimate: £1,500-2,000). According to an accompanying document, the merchant ship went to the aid of the stricken steamer despite the submarine being spotted in the area. Indeed, the S.S. Portaferry was fired upon, but the shot went wide, and the master and crew of the merchant ship went without food to feed the rescued crew. A fascinating and possibly unique Group of Eleven Second World War and Post War Medals to a British serviceman with a remarkable history of military service are offered with an estimate of £500-700. Roy F. T. Roberts was born in Great Yarmouth in 1925, and served in the Royal Marines from 1942-7, the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry from 1947-57 with whom he served in Malaya and Korea, the French Foreign Legion from 1958 under the name Eric Roberson, after which he changed his name by deed poll to Roy Dixon, the Royal Australian Air Force from 1968-73, serving two tours in Vietnam. He died in Great Yarmouth in 1996 aged 71. The medals include the 1939-45 Star, Defence and War Medal, a General Service Medal 1918-62, a Korea Medal, a UN Korea Medal, a French Foreign Legion Group of Three and a Vietnam Medal and South Vietnam Campaign Medal. Also of interest are a Battle of the Somme Casualty First World War Trio awarded to Albert Huteson Marshal who was killed in action aged just twenty on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (estimate: £400-600), and a Military General Service Medal 1793-1814 with nine clasps and a Hanoverian Medal for Volunteers of the King’s German Legion (estimate: £3,500-4,500).
Further interesting lots of Militaria include an Inert Rapier Drill Missile measuring 2.32 metres long; the rapier was a surface-to-air missile used by the British Army since 1971, and by 1977 had replaced all other anti-aircraft weapons in British Army service (estimate: £700-900). On offer with an estimate of £400-600 is the War Diary of Major General Sir Cecil Lowther, who was in command of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards as Lieutenant Colonel. According to the forward, it was written up day-by-day and sent home in instalments, when it was typed up and circulated to the writer’s family. There are also good quality binoculars, police truncheons, cap badges, Victorian and Edwardian helmet plates and various Edwardian, Victorian and later uniforms including a Pair of First World War German M.1910 Soldier’s Field Grey Trousers (estimate: £600-700) and an Edwardian Blue Wool Tunic to a Quartermaster Sergeant Major, 1st Berwick-on-Tweed Artillery Volunteers (estimate: £100-200). Of interest to reenactors is a collection of US Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and US Army Nurse Corps uniforms from the Second World War. Two interesting lots of weapons in the sale are a Pair of 18th Century Flintlock Duelling Pistols by Robert Wogden (estimate: £5,000-6,000), and a 19th Century Belgian Percussion Duelling Pistol by B. Hopfe à Malmedÿ (estimate: £800-1,000).
The sale will also offer nearly 120 lots of regimental silver from The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths' Own) Regiment and The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers to benefit The Royal Lancers Charitable Trust and the Fusiliers' Aid Society respectively. Among the highlights of the items from the Royal Fusiliers is a pair of George V Silver Copies of the Warwick Vase. They were made in London in 1910 by the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company and were used as the Punjab Bengal Football Challenge cup. They will be offered with an estimate of £2,000-3,000. Notable amongst the items from The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths' Own) Regiment is The Sergeants-Mess XII (Prince of Wales's Royal) Lancers Silver Challenge Shield. The shield was made by Mappin and Webb in 1886 and is applied with a portrait bust of Queen Victoria and the badge of the XII Lancers. The back is engraved with the conditions of the presentations of the shield. Weighing over four kilograms the shield is offered with an estimate of £2,500-3,500.
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