A sale of antique swords, guns and more

Art.view
Up in arms

Jul 21st 2007
From Economist.com

A sale of antique swords, guns and more

THE late Mrs G.E.P. How was, by all reports, a formidable woman. Born Jane Penrice Benson in 1915, she became, together with her husband, a former naval commander, one of the world’s leading scholars and dealers of antique English silver. How is said to have thrown herself into the research of silver as energetically as she pursued the many other pleasures in her life—great wines, opera, fishing, shooting, beekeeping, cricket and fast cars. She gave the British Museum some of the finest pieces of silver in its collection.

Unknown to many, however, was her passion for collecting edged weapons. Next week How’s magnificent—and until her death in 2004, largely secret—collection goes under the hammer as part of the Bonhams sale of antique arms and armour. It might seem incongruous for a lady dealer in silver to collect weaponry. But How’s collection not only offers many rare, historic items for the specialised buyer, but also objects of beauty for the rarified aesthete.

Given the importance of defence to all civilisations, weaponry historically attracted many of the most gifted craftsmen. How’s collection of daggers shows the virtuosity with which master armourers could combine designing for efficiency with unerring aesthetic judgment. Among her swords, the hilts alone can be exquisite. See, for example, the baroque swirl of Lot 93, a 17th-century English rapier estimated at £2000-2,500 ($4,000-5,000), or the elegant simplicity of Lot 89 (also from the 17th century), a rare riding sword with a scrolling leaf and flower design delicately inlaid in silver, estimated at £3000-3,500.

The medieval swords have their own austere dignity, in their subtle variations on the simple cruciform with circular or “brazil nut” pommel, economic but deadly, and despite their weight, surprisingly wieldy in the hand. Take Lot 154, an Austrian sword made in the late 15th century and estimated at £12,000-15,000: the velum-covered grip, beak-shaped pommel and elegant sweep of its vast blade impresses with the perfection of its workmanship.

For historical potency, however, the Viking swords carry perhaps the greatest charge. The most valuable are those that have not been victims of restoration since being excavated. Lot 123, a sword from the 9th-10th centuries estimated at £10,000-15,000 (pictured below), sums up in its brutal simplicity all we have ever imagined about the Vikings. Despite recent efforts to cast the Vikings as happy homesteaders, these swords convey the undeniable frisson of a more bloodthirsty reputation, as well as the romance of awesome adventuring.

Bonhams

Brute beauty

The Bonhams sale offers more than swords—its guns are equally beautiful. You do not need to be a field-sports enthusiast or a seven-year-old boy to find thrilling the lean length of service muskets or the sleek beauty of flintlock pistols, with their chunky, rounded handles and lovingly engraved locks. Bonhams presents an array of magnificent firearms from two collectors. Danny Wing built up a remarkable collection of antique guns from the late 17th century to the early 20th, focusing entirely on firearms manufactured or retailed in Doncaster. John Wilmot, by contrast, collected one of almost every type of military pistol ever issued. Here they lie in all their glory, witnesses to a violent history: his collection ranges from a rare, long-barrelled officer’s pistol made circa 1645 during England’s civil war (estimated £5,000-7,000), to the percussion pistols of the late 19th century.

The market for such arms is still relatively specialised. There are dedicated buyers prepared to pay thousands of pounds for a single piece to round out their collection. But interest is growing. Oriental and Indian, Russian and Middle Eastern arms are becoming more coveted. Bonhams holds three big sales of antique arm and armour in London each year—the only auction house to do so—and the strategy has served it well. In the past five years the shows have seen annual earnings grow from £350,000 to £3m. Christie’s has seen the market’s potential too. Nicholas McCullough, who joined Christie’s in 2005, has injected new energy into its arms and armour department.

Auctioneers are banking on new buyers who can see these arms as works of beautiful design, quite independent from their historic associations. One of the finest items in the Bonhams sale, is a pair of decorated, silver-mounted flintlock holster pistols, estimated at £20,000-25,000. Their intricate splendour is hard to deny.

Bonhams' sale of antique arms and armour is in Knightsbridge on July 25th.