Sword

On May 18 Paris auction firm Tessier Sarrou is selling the first part of a collection of Japanese swords.

Even the composite parts of weapons now long lost have a value at auction.

Lawrences’ (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Crewkerne on September 10 featured three swords that came to auction from the family of the ‘Father of the RAF’: Viscount Trenchard GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (1873-1956).

This Royal Navy Reserve officer’s sword owned by Robert Erskine Childers was estimated at €3000-5000 in a recent auction by Mullen’s (20/12.5% buyer’s premium) in Bray, Co Dublin. The scabbard throat of the Victorian 1827-pattern sword is engraved 'RE Childers'.

Ken tanto, distinguished by double-edged blades, are one of the rarer styles of Japanese sword. Most were made as Buddhist ritual implements rather than weapons and are decorated accordingly.

Among the highlights of Antony Cribb’s Spring Virtual Arms and Armour sale was a collection of presentation swords.

Second-dibs sales at regional salerooms – those that follow after a major London auctioneer has cherry-picked the contents of a stately country house – can sometimes acquire the slighting epithet of ‘crumbs from a rich man’s table’.

Claymores (the word comes from the Scottish Gaelic claidheamh-mor meaning ‘great sword’) were the weapon of choice in the ongoing warfare between Highland clans and border skirmishes with the English from c.1400-1700.

Two spectacular early-19th century British presentation sabres have turned up in the salerooms recently, one in London and the other in Munich.

Edged weapons from the East continue to feature regularly among the top lots in auctions across the world. Awareness of the rich array of culturally-significant weapons to be found in Western collections has grown as internet technology reaches a new international audience.

The huge variety of exotic arms brought back to Europe from the East during colonial days is becoming an increasingly lucrative area of business for auction houses.

Edged weapons from the East were also an important part of the sale held by Czerny (20% buyer’s premium) in Sarzano, Italy, on June 16.

The collecting of English military swords is a science in itself.

Special Auction Services’ (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale in Newbury on July 9 included a wide selection of edged weapons which was topped by a mid-19th century Japanese short sword or tanto estimated at £200-300.

A Battle of Culloden period Clan MacTavish silver inlaid basket-hilted back sword sold for £4800, just below top estimate, at the Antony Cribb (22% buyer’s premium) auction on July 30.

A 19th century Russian shashka sword with fine niello-worked ornament sold for £6700 against an estimate of £250-450 at Amersham Auction Rooms (17.5% buyer’s premium) on August 1.

A significant amendment means that the new law governing the sale of bladed items will not impact buyers of antique weapons as once feared.

A Russian battle sword is on offer at Morphy Auctions in the June 12 sale in Denver, Pennsylvania, estimated at $50,000-100,000.