6th Dec, 2023 11:00
Arms, Armour & Militaria
223
A BRONZE DAGGER IN FANTASTIC MEDIEVAL STYLE, MID-19TH CENTURY
cast in one piece, with tapering double-edged blade of diamond-section, recurved cross-piece with central lion mask boss one face above the spurious date ‘MDMI’ spirally moulded grip and the pommel formed as a gaping monsterhead, 24.3 cm overall
Probably one of the Shadwell Dock Forgeries by Billy Smith and Charley Eaton.
Provenance
David Hayden-Wright (1936-2006)
Literature
David Hayden-Wright, The Heritage of English Knives, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2008, pp. 45-6.
Billies and Charlies, otherwise known as Shadwell Dock Forgeries, were produced in a variety of forms, often as badges, but also as figures, vases, vessels etc., the majority made by the labourers or navigators (navvies) Billy Smith and Charley Eaton. The great public works of the 1840s and 50s had entailed large excavations and dredging operations, which threw up a number of medieval artefacts. Billy and Charley, whilst mudlarking on the Thames, had found a medieval medallion, which they sold for a handsome sum. By 1857, lacking further such finds, the enterprising pair decided to manufacture these objects instead, casting them in a lead copper alloy. The letters usually found on the bases or edges of these pieces make no sense, presumably since the forgers were illiterate. For a year, academics and collectors lapped up these rare pieces, claimed by Billy & Charley to have been found at the construction site of the new Shadwell docks. In 1858 a lecture at the British Archaeological Association condemned them all as forgeries, although in a consequent court case, the eminent scholar Charles Roach Smith pronounced that even the most badly educated forger would not produce such blatantly ridiculous items and that therefore they must be genuine. There continued to be a strong market for the pieces until a couple of years later, when a sceptic uncovered Billy and Charley's moulds. Billy and Charley escaped prosecution and continued production, but ever increasing awareness of the forgeries meant falling prices, with Charley dying in penury at Tower Hamlets and Billy disappearing from the records by 1871. See Halliday 1986.
Sold for £120
cast in one piece, with tapering double-edged blade of diamond-section, recurved cross-piece with central lion mask boss one face above the spurious date ‘MDMI’ spirally moulded grip and the pommel formed as a gaping monsterhead, 24.3 cm overall
Probably one of the Shadwell Dock Forgeries by Billy Smith and Charley Eaton.
Provenance
David Hayden-Wright (1936-2006)
Literature
David Hayden-Wright, The Heritage of English Knives, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2008, pp. 45-6.
Billies and Charlies, otherwise known as Shadwell Dock Forgeries, were produced in a variety of forms, often as badges, but also as figures, vases, vessels etc., the majority made by the labourers or navigators (navvies) Billy Smith and Charley Eaton. The great public works of the 1840s and 50s had entailed large excavations and dredging operations, which threw up a number of medieval artefacts. Billy and Charley, whilst mudlarking on the Thames, had found a medieval medallion, which they sold for a handsome sum. By 1857, lacking further such finds, the enterprising pair decided to manufacture these objects instead, casting them in a lead copper alloy. The letters usually found on the bases or edges of these pieces make no sense, presumably since the forgers were illiterate. For a year, academics and collectors lapped up these rare pieces, claimed by Billy & Charley to have been found at the construction site of the new Shadwell docks. In 1858 a lecture at the British Archaeological Association condemned them all as forgeries, although in a consequent court case, the eminent scholar Charles Roach Smith pronounced that even the most badly educated forger would not produce such blatantly ridiculous items and that therefore they must be genuine. There continued to be a strong market for the pieces until a couple of years later, when a sceptic uncovered Billy and Charley's moulds. Billy and Charley escaped prosecution and continued production, but ever increasing awareness of the forgeries meant falling prices, with Charley dying in penury at Tower Hamlets and Billy disappearing from the records by 1871. See Halliday 1986.
Auction: Arms, Armour & Militaria, 6th Dec, 2023
