Arms & Armour

‘These skills of craftsmanship reached even greater heights as time progressed through the Viking, Medieval and Renaissance periods. This is reflected by the highly decorated edged weapons, firearms and armour that survive from those times through to the technical and industrial advancements of the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in sporting and military firearms and their accoutrements.

All of this was accomplished through constantly evolving craftsmanship in numerous and ever more refined styles that some have argued achieve their greatest expression in this area of the applied arts so cherished by institutions and collectors.’
Thomas Del Mar

Four Millennia of World History
From the helmets of Greek heroes, armour of Samurais, swords of Maharajahs, personal arms and equipment of Renaissance princes through to the weaponry of European and American soldiers from the last two centuries; firearms from their very beginnings in the 14th century to the cartridge weapons of the high industrial age, our regular sales present the history of the world in several hundred lots.

Our highly regarded sales comprise European and Eastern armour and edged weapons, wheel-lock, flintlock and percussion pistols, revolvers, rifles and guns, Japanese weapons, accessories, books and other items relating to the armourer and his craft from the earliest times to the late 19th century.

The Oldest Tradition of Collection
The origins of collecting in this field emerged following the ceremonial gathering of trophies as described in Homer's celebrated Iliad and continued with deliberately collected assemblages of medieval armouries and renaissance cabinets that comprised highly embellished armour, edged weapons, firearms and accoutrements such as powder-flasks. Arguably, the most famous renaissance collection is that of Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol (1529-1595) whose 'Armoury of Heroes' at Schloss Ambras included more than 120 armours and is considered to be the first museum north of the Alps.

The revival of interest in history during the 18th and 19th centuries, as exemplified by the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, saw many grand halls filled with armour and panoplies of arms, a tradition that has continued and been refined to the highest levels by the world's leading collections and pre-eminent museums such as London's Wallace Collection, Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

World Class Advice for Collectors
While the motivation to collect has evolved, the passion to do so remains as strong as ever. Some collectors are drawn to the historical significance of an item, others are driven by cultural relevance or mechanical innovation, while others seek a single masterpiece to complement a broader art collection. Our experts are available to assist both established collectors as well as those new to the field to discover further treasures to add to their collections.

David Williams has recently joined our specialist team from Bonhams, following his career at Christie’s. Together, Tom and David have handled the greatest collections sold in the past 40 years, making Olympia Auctions the world centre of expertise.

Notable sales they have handled include items from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Art institute of Chicago; the John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, Worcester; the William Keith Neal Collection; the Henk L. Visser Collection; Warwick Castle; Claude Blair, Peter Parsons and a number of European Royal and Princely collections.

Publications on Arms and Armour
In addition to holding regular auctions, the department has published the following titles which are available to order [LINK]: Tobias Capwell, Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450; Tournaments: A Thousand Years of Chivalry, published in association with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and Louis Bremers, The Pursuit of Honour: The History of the Pistol Duel.

‘The arrival of newly discovered and unknown pieces onto the market is remarkably powerful and serves to remind us that great masterpieces can still become available. Such was the case with the exceptional, probably unique, French gold-mounted flintlock duck gun by Boutet A Versaille of circa 1805-09 for presentation to a North African ruler that achieved the remarkable hammer price of £475,000, and the important South German closed burgonet with etched, gilt and embossed decoration, made in Augsburg circa 1555-65 that sold for £120,000 and is now part of the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in America.’
Thomas Del Mar