Winchester Repeating Rifle

Composed of an arched heelband, hanging studs and buckle, together with a multi-armed rowel. 104 grams, 14.5 cm



Found in the Thames foreshore at Queenshithe. Acquired from Rusty Old Arms, 2014. The Kusmirek Collection, UK. Accompanied by an ROA invoice and listing.

Long-barrelled (101cm) and slightly flared to an octagonal muzzle, bound to wood stock with six brass bands; with percussion lock (working order); fitted with iron butt plate and brass trigger guard; numbered 'D22/81' to side of butt; with a steel ramrod to underside of barrel (end ferrule of slot absent); probably native workmanship, copying European type. 4.50 kg, 150 cm overall



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.

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.

Comprising a broad double-edged parallel-sided blade, flat-section at the upper third with a very shallow central fuller, elliptical-section at the lower end; flat guard with scooped lower edge, D-section arms horizontally S-curved; 'cat's head' type pommel, rectangular with scrolled upper edge and integral central boss to both faces; on the upper part of the blade an engraved three-armed workshop mark and two possibly later added brass inlaid marks including a cross fourchee inside and the image of a sword to one side; mounted on a wall display mount. 1.7 kg total, 1.11 m

In general good condition, point missing, blade structure with little delamination along the upper part, corrosion damages along the edges and on the surface, some material loss on the original surface.

Private collection, Munich, Germany, 1970s. Private collection, London, UK, 2014, acquired from the above.

The Schiavonesca sword was used by Dalmatian mercenaries serving in the Venetian state armies, and produced by the workshops of the Serenissima to which the marks probably belong. Many of these swords were produced in Dubrovnik, a Croatian city under the Venetian rule. Oakeshott classified all the pommels of square shape in his Type Z. Certain morphological differences between them were individuated by Dr Aleksić as a criteria for distinguishing the distinct subtypes, in this case the type Z3 for the upper crenelleted edge. The cross-guards of type 12b, like in this case, have symmetrically and horizontally sharply bent arms in the opposite directions. The 'cat's head' pommel is also found on surviving examples of cross-hilted swords of the 14th century which can be traced into the hands of Slavonic soldiers stationed in southern Europe, employed in the European armies of this period. The independent representation of the cross fourchee usually inscribed in a circle is rather frequent on the swords with type 12 cross guards and type Z pommel from Hungary, Northern Balkans and the neighbouring regions (Aleksić, 2007, p.122).