25th Jun, 2025 11:00
Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria June 2025
28
‡ A NORTH EUROPEAN BASKET-HILTED MILITARY BACKSWORD (TESSAK), LATE 16TH CENTURY
with tapering double-edged blade of flattened-diamond section and struck with a flower mark on each face at the forte, iron basket-hilt of rounded bars, comprising a pair of straight quillons with vertically recurved tips with pronounced globular terminals each chiselled with a finely chequered design, symmetrical basket-guard formed on each face with a saltire joining the knuckle-guard to the front and rear guards, fluted figure-of-eight shaped basal plate pierced with four circles and joined front and back by an S-shaped bar to the guard, thumb-loop, mushroom-shaped pommel cut with a band of chequering en suite with the quillons, and leather-covered wooden grip, 99.2 cm blade
Provenance
Robert Brooker Collection inv. no. S1398
Hilts of this form are associated with North Germany and Scandinavia. See Norman 1980, p. 149.
Sold for £2,400
with tapering double-edged blade of flattened-diamond section and struck with a flower mark on each face at the forte, iron basket-hilt of rounded bars, comprising a pair of straight quillons with vertically recurved tips with pronounced globular terminals each chiselled with a finely chequered design, symmetrical basket-guard formed on each face with a saltire joining the knuckle-guard to the front and rear guards, fluted figure-of-eight shaped basal plate pierced with four circles and joined front and back by an S-shaped bar to the guard, thumb-loop, mushroom-shaped pommel cut with a band of chequering en suite with the quillons, and leather-covered wooden grip, 99.2 cm blade
Provenance
Robert Brooker Collection inv. no. S1398
Hilts of this form are associated with North Germany and Scandinavia. See Norman 1980, p. 149.
Auction: Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria June 2025, 25th Jun, 2025
Auction Location: London, UK
The Antique Arms, Armour and Militaria department run by Thomas Del Mar is now a recognised world leader in this field.
The sales offer a broad selection of objects from all over the world, from the earliest times until the Great War. Firearms from the earliest matchlock, wheel-lock, flintlock, percussion and pin-fire guns, rifles, pistols and revolvers; edged weapons from the bronze age, Viking, Medieval and Renaissance periods through to the swords of the regular armies of the 18th and 19th centuries; armour from the earliest times through the medieval and renaissance periods to the First World War; African, Australasian, Chinese, Islamic and Japanese weapons and armour; accessories including gunpowder flasks, gun locks, mechanical locks, iron work and books.
Contact the Department for further information | armsandarmour@olympiaauctions.com | + 44 (0) 20 7806 5541
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Tuesday 24th June: 10am to 5pm
