A RARE SIAMESE (THAI) OFFICER'S SWORD AND DIRK, RATTANAKOSIN, LATE 19TH CENTURY based on the Japanese 1896 and 1873/83 patterns respectively, the sword with fullered blade, gilt-brass gothic hilt with folding side-guard, and elephant's head pommel, in its brass-mounted leather-covered wooden scabbard; the dirk en suite, in its brass-mounted fishskin-covered scabbard, both retaining their bullion cords and knots, and in very good condition throughout the sword: 61.7 cm; 24 1/4 in blade (2) Provenance Wallis & Wallis, 9th October 1996, lots 83 and 84 On 26th September 1887 the Kingdom of Siam dispatched a mission to Japan and signed the Declaration of Amity and Commerce with the Japanese Government. This took place during the reign of the two great modernisers of each country, King Chulalongkorn and Emperor Meiji. The former established the Siamese Royal Navy on 8th April 1887 and the Royal Naval Academy on 20th November 1906.