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    Sale 9168

    FINE ANTIQUE ARMS AND ARMOUR AND BOOKS FROM THE R T GWYNN

    London,King Street

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    24 April 2001

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    • A Rare English Basket-Hilted B
    Lot 33

    A Rare English Basket-Hilted Backsword

    CIRCA 1560

    Price realised

    GBP 4,465

    Estimate

    GBP 1,500 - GBP 2,500

    Follow lot

    A Rare English Basket-Hilted Backsword
    Circa 1560
    With straight blade (tip missing), iron hilt of slender bars of circular section involving two small incised rectangular plates, diagonally recurved quillons (one missing), large hollow pommel decorated on the upper half with a design of incised leaves, and wooden grip (heavily patinated throughout)
    34½in. (87.6cm.) blade

    Provenance

    Christie's, London, 14 April 1971, lot 29 (130 gns. to Gwynn)

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    Lot Essay

    This is an example of a sword with one of the earliest forms of Anglo/Highland Scottish guard - known in the the 17th century as an 'Irish hilt'- from which that of the better known Scottish basket-hilted claymore developed
    See Blair 1981(i), passim
    A very similar sword was in the collection of Claude Blair (see Wallace, no. 13; Blair 1981(i), figs. 113-115), now in the Royal Armouries, Leeds (inv. no. IX.2574)

    Other information

    Special Notice

    No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.


    Pre-Lot Text

    R.T. Gwynn
    ,ACCESSORIES,
    ,ARMS AND ARMOUR

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