THE GRAND OLD DUKE OF YORK'S WEAPONS
A catalogue of the highly valuable collection of fire arms, and costly Oriental and European Weapons, and a small assemblage of trinkets and jewellery, of his royal highness, the duke of york, deceased; Which (by order of the Executors) Will be Sold by Auction, by mr. christie, at his great room, No. 8, King Street, St. James's Square, On tuesday, march 27, 1827, and Three following Days, at one o'clock precisely.
[London].
[s.n.], 1827.
Quarto.
44pp. Stitched within original blue paper wrappers. Slightly shaken, a little creased to extremities.
A choice catalogue of the magnificent collection of firearms, swords, and other valuable objects from the collection of Prince Frederick, 'The Grand Old' Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), Commander in Chief of the British Army, King George III's second son and between 1820 and his own death in 1827 presumptive heir to the throne himself.
Divided into 490 lots spread over four days, highlights of the collection included 'double-barrelled flint and percussion guns' produced by 'the most celebrated English, and some noted foreign makers' including Manton, Moore, Egg, Tatham, Truelock, Nock, Tow, Wogdon and Staudenmayer, 'a highly-finished single gun, of Joseph Buonaparte, taken at Vittoria', and several ceremonial, regulation and Highland swords. Amongst the numerous non-Western produced trinkets, arms and canon in the collection were Burmese swords, Hindu cutlasses, Persian knives or daggers, and even the Tippoo Sultan's 'original saddle', presumably looted following the fall of Seringapatam in 1799. Several of the most historically and artistically significant items in the collection were saved for the fourth day, including lot 29: 'A silver-mounted double gun, by Bouley, the director of the manufactory at Versailles; the barrels, burnt steel, inlaid with gold, the carving of the stock, and the silver mountings, chased with mythological devices, in exquisite taste. This formerly belonged to Napoleon Buonaparte.'; lot 95, 'The sabre of Tippoo, in velvet sheath', and lot 111, 'A larger and very beautiful piece of ordnance, the mouth and butt fashioned as tigers' heads, and with Persian inscriptions in relief, 8 feet 6 inc. in length, and of 2 1/4 bore, weighing 9cwt. 3qrs. 12lbs. upon an English carriage.
The sale itself was a huge commercial success for Christie's; the total hammer price was £8,838 12s 10d, albeit only one third of the total secured by his collection of silver and silver-gilt plate which were sold in the same rooms, again over four days, in the preceding week.
Rare; OCLC and COPAC together locate just two copies in the UK (BL and Oxford), and just two further elsewhere (American Philosophicial Society and the Gottfried Wihelm Leibniz Bibliothek).
£ 1,500.00
Antiquates Ref: 27491
Divided into 490 lots spread over four days, highlights of the collection included 'double-barrelled flint and percussion guns' produced by 'the most celebrated English, and some noted foreign makers' including Manton, Moore, Egg, Tatham, Truelock, Nock, Tow, Wogdon and Staudenmayer, 'a highly-finished single gun, of Joseph Buonaparte, taken at Vittoria', and several ceremonial, regulation and Highland swords. Amongst the numerous non-Western produced trinkets, arms and canon in the collection were Burmese swords, Hindu cutlasses, Persian knives or daggers, and even the Tippoo Sultan's 'original saddle', presumably looted following the fall of Seringapatam in 1799. Several of the most historically and artistically significant items in the collection were saved for the fourth day, including lot 29: 'A silver-mounted double gun, by Bouley, the director of the manufactory at Versailles; the barrels, burnt steel, inlaid with gold, the carving of the stock, and the silver mountings, chased with mythological devices, in exquisite taste. This formerly belonged to Napoleon Buonaparte.'; lot 95, 'The sabre of Tippoo, in velvet sheath', and lot 111, 'A larger and very beautiful piece of ordnance, the mouth and butt fashioned as tigers' heads, and with Persian inscriptions in relief, 8 feet 6 inc. in length, and of 2 1/4 bore, weighing 9cwt. 3qrs. 12lbs. upon an English carriage.
The sale itself was a huge commercial success for Christie's; the total hammer price was £8,838 12s 10d, albeit only one third of the total secured by his collection of silver and silver-gilt plate which were sold in the same rooms, again over four days, in the preceding week.
Rare; OCLC and COPAC together locate just two copies in the UK (BL and Oxford), and just two further elsewhere (American Philosophicial Society and the Gottfried Wihelm Leibniz Bibliothek).
