Arms, Armour & Militaria

Top-seller at guns specialist Southams (15% buyer’s premium) in Bedford on September 20 was acased pair of flintlock double-barrelled travelling pistols.

Two aspects of soldiering – a touch of glamour and life at the deadly sharp end – were illustrated in two lots at a Tennants (18.5% buyer’s premium) antiques and militaria sale at Leyburn.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

MADAM – With reference to Tom Derbyshire’s article ‘The button that bust the dam’ (militaria special, ATG No 2305), I would like to highlight the part that Wing Commander (later Air Commodore) CL Dann, head of aeronautics at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), played in inventing the simple aiming instrument that was to be adopted in the successful bombing of the Möhne dam in 1943.

MADAM – I am writing to ATG following your militaria special (ATG No 2305) to tell you about The Trench Experience, a registered educational charity which uses the Artists’ Rifles regiment to illustrate what happened in the trenches during the First World War.

A cavalry guidon (pennant) from the late 18th century is always likely to be rare – and rarer still if it is painted rather than embroidered.

Medal groups awarded to two members of the same family on offer at auction are not unknown but three together is definitely unusual.

Militaria has the advantage of a wide price range for items. A photograph sold in Cirencester on July 7 was a good example of ‘more affordable’ levels.

The button from the Lancaster bomber of 617 Squadron that released the ‘bouncing bomb’ which destroyed the Möhne Dam has sold after being offered at auction for the first time.

Warwick arms and armour dealer Runjeet Singh will have a representative at the new Olympia fair (see separate story) but he has a ‘fixture clash’ to cope with. The west London show coincides with his first exhibition in Asia.

A unique Victoria Cross and other awards won by one of the greatest heroes in Canadian history is to be auctioned by Dix Noonan Webb on September 27.

An RAF logbook added value to a Second World War casualty group sold at Ipswich saleroom Lockdales (19.5% buyer’s premium) on July 15-16.

Thomas Del Mar, former Sotheby’s specialist and founder of the 25 Blythe Road group of auctioneers, turns fair organiser next month. The first Olympia Arms Fair takes place on September 30.

Medals for service in the Falklands, Northern Ireland and long service/good conduct denote a busy 1980s career. In value terms, for a non-special forces unit, it means a price probably within £1000 at auction. But it is a single action lasting about 17 minutes from start to finish which explains why such a group on offer at Woolley & Wallis on November 22 is estimated at £20,000-30,000.

Personal and unique insights into warfare score highly at auction. So it proved at Cambridge firm Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) in The Connoisseurs Sale on July 6, when a journal revealing the private thoughts of a Second World War fighter ace credited with more enemy ‘kills’ than any other British pilot doubled the top estimate to sell for £16,000.