South German Burgonet Helm

Iron fronted with visor, nasal guard bar and front and back gorget plates, the lifting visor marked with parallel lines; the front and back plates secured with a single hook. 2.25 kg, 34.5 cm high



Acquired on the UK art market. The Kusmirek Collection, UK. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no. 11766-203985.

During the latter half of the 16th century, the heavy 'knightly' lance gradually fell out of use, possibly because of the widespread adoption of the infantry pike. Also, the lance required a great amount of practice to perfect its use, whilst proficiency in the use of firearms was considerably more easily acquired. The lancer or demi-lancer, when he had abandoned his lance, became the pistol-armed cuirassier or reiter. The adoption of the pistol as the primary weapon led to the development of the stately caracole tactic, where cuirassiers fired their pistols at the enemy, then retired to reload whilst their comrades advanced in turn to maintain firing. Following some initial successes, this tactic proved to be extremely ineffective, as infantry, with superior firearms and numbers, could easily outgun the cuirassiers. The change from cavalry being reliant on firearms, to shock-capable close combat cavalry, reliant mainly on the sword, was attributed to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in the 1620s and 1630s, but was actually already widely practiced throughout Europe since the invention of pistol-armed heavy cavalrymen in the late 16th century.

An armet with rounded one-piece skull raising to a roped medial comb, visor, prow shaped upper bevor and bevor attached by common pivots, each secured at the right side by a spring-catch, the visor with stepped centrally divided visor-slit and two gorget-plates. 2 kg, 31 cm high



Acquired on the European art market. The Kusmirek Collection, UK. Accompanied by a copy of an invoice. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11767-203981.

The term armet is generally used to denote a visored helmet of particular construction, one in which large cheekpieces are hinged to the base of the bowl just above the ears and close in front of the chin. From about 1515 A.D., the Germans produced a variant armet where the downward extension of the skull was made much wider, reaching as far forward as the ears. The cheekpieces on this type of helmet opened sideways, on vertical hinges on the edges of this wider neck element.

Round rifled 90cm (35½") barrel of 11mm calibre with folding rear sight (without slide), bolt action with serial no.52431 to breech; fitted with full wood stock with steel butt cap, trigger guard, sling swivels and fore-end, steel cleaning rod; with correct Gras bayonet inscribed 'M[--] d'Armes de St Etienne 8bre 1878' to back and steel scabbard. 4.8 kg, 1.84 m



Acquired from Czerny's Auctions, Italy, 2019. The Kusmirek Collection, UK. Accompanied by a copy of Czerny's invoice and listing.

Sold as an exempt item under Section 58 (2) of the Firearms Act, 1968, to be held as a curiosity or ornament. No license required but buyer must be over 18 years of age. Overseas bidders should note that, due to UK regulations governing export of all firearms, overseas buyers will need to make arrangements for shipping this lot out of the UK directly, by air freight, with a specialist company or agent.