Arms Cavalcade 2017 Edition

SEPTEMBER 2017 ISSN 1325-779X

Contents Regency Duelling Pistols

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Henry (Harry) Scott and his Pistols

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The Mystery of Captain Richard Swann’s Indonesian Kris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Persian Pecussion Pistols

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Samuel Colt in London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Javanese Pedang

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Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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EDITOR’S NOTE Arms Cavalcade is published once a year as that’s how long it takes to get the articles written, pieces eces photographed and peruse drafts. I know digital changes are coming. I don’t know how this will affect ffect Arms Cavalcade. is edition has Regency Duelling pistols and Sam Colt in London from Bill Taylor, another nother insight into Tony Wood’s collection with his article on Persian Pistols, and two special articles, and an article on a Javanese pedang.

Neil Speed has allowed us to reprint his article on Harry Scott and his Australian Pistols.. Robert Hales in his 2013 book, Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour included a story on e History of Robert Swann’s Kris.

Since publishing this book Robert has undertaken more research and re- wrote the article cle for the 2016 Park Lane Arms Fair Magazine, and has kindly authorised us to use it in this year’s Arms Cavalcade. valcade.

My sincere thanks to Ivan Fitzgerald and Scribbly Bark Design for their design work ork – all excellent as usual.

Visit our website at: www.antiquearmssociety.org.au

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OFFICE BEARERS

REGISTERED OFFICE

COMMITTEE

PHOTOGRAPHY

Chairman Harvey Facer Secretary Terry Hartmann Treasurer Ron Cook

C/- Hartmann & Associates 135 Macquarie St Sydney NSW 2000

Paul Duffy Mitch Frost Bill Newbold Dominic Hassett Ken Buxton Marten Sweeney Geoff Pogson Ernest Starr

Ivan Fitz-Gerald

EDITORS Paul Duffy Bill Taylor

DESIGN Scribbly Bark Design © No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the editor or authors.

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Regency Duelling Pistols The Regency period is named for the nine years from 1811 to 1820 when the Prince of Wales was Regent for his mentally ill father George III. Words By Bill Taylor

W

hen I started collecting antique guns forty years ago I used to make a point of seeing antique gun dealer Maurie Albert when I came to Melbourne, especially when he had a new shipment from one of his American buying trips. His little shop in Coburg would be overflowing with guns being unpacked and he was happy to allow learners to have a good look at them . I never had much money but he was always helpful, and a great advocate for buying reference books. His passing many years ago was a real loss to collectors.

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Like most young collectors there were real financial limitations, but there were things on my ultimate wish list that I could at least dream about.

At the extreme end of that list was a cased pair of London made flintlock duelling pistols, and it seemed impossible that I could ever afford them.

Over the years Maurie and I did more than a few deals as my collection grew and I occasionally found something to trade to him. One day however I received a call from him that changed my collecting completely - he had a cased pair of

“At the extreme end of that list was a cased pair of London made flintlock duelling pistols”

flintlock duellers on consignment that he thought I might be interested in. He explained that they had been owned at one time by the famous English collector W Keith Neal. Maurie had bought them in America and sold them to a Melbourne collector some years earlier, but now they were for sale.

Even looking at the duellers seemed a waste of time because I knew that they were out of my league, but during a restless night it came to me that if I sold off everything in my meagre collection I would come close to the price. Selling everything was not an attractive prospect, but it was the only way I could get to own them.

There was nothing I owned then that could not be replaced in due course, whereas being offered a good set of English duellers might not happen again, or not for many years. So I called Maurie back and he agreed to send them to me on approval. When the cased pair arrived some days later I knew instantly that they would be worth the pain.

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Regency Duelling Pistols

1. British Gunmakers, Their Trade Cards, Cases and Equipment.

The pistols were made by John George Lacy, Royal Exchange, London. They have 10” octagonal fine twist barrels of 34 bore, London Gunmakers Company proof marks, and patent hardened breeches with single platinum lines and platinum vent plugs. Sunken maker’s stamps in platinum in a cartouche on the top flat of the breech state J G Lacy, London.

The locks have full rainproof pans, roller bearings to the frizzen springs, half cock safeties, and reinforced cocks. The interior lockwork is very finely polished, with adjustable set triggers. Engraving is top order, with a fine flowing signature on the lock plates and decorative wheatsheaf border around the plates, the edge of the cocks and the frizzen.

“ e pistols were made by John George Lacy, Royal Exchange, London” The half stocks have silver fore-end caps and barrel slide plates and small round escutcheons engraved CD: the same initials appear on the escutcheon plate on the lid of the case. The spurred trigger guards have pineapple finials, and the stock has fine diamond checkering.

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The pistols have much of their original finish. Even the barrels appear to retain a lot of their original browning, which is very rare today. Many pistols were rebrowned during their active life, or have since been redone by restorers keen to reveal their attractive Damascus patterns. However the flats on the barrels of the Lacy pistols are still dead flat, without a whisker of the slight rounding one usually sees on rebrowned octagonal barrels. The trigger guards and rear ramrod pipes still display 95% of their original deep fire blue.

The case is heavy mahogany in fine original state, with slightly faded baize lining and the original trade label. This is the actual label illustrated by W Keith Neal and David Back at page 58 of their book British Gunmakers, Their Trade Cards, Cases and Equipment.

The label includes a neat diagram of the breech, which is similar but not identical to that invented by Henry Nock in the 1750s. As in Nock’s breech, the design is intended to maximize the burning efficiency of the charge by exploding it in an antechamber directly behind the ball, rather than having the flash burn sideways into the charge.

The case accessories include an early three way flask, a double turnscrew, a standard pincer mould, a rod for ramming the ball down the barrel, and longer rod that has a loading powder cup at one end and

at the other a detachable cleaning head covering a steel worm for removing balls. This rod is almost certainly from a Joseph Manton casing (or from the same supplier) as I have only ever seen them in his cases of the Regency period.

Examples can be seen in the Manton books by Keith Neal and David Back: for example illustrations 83a and 84 of 2. David Back’s The Mantons 1782 -1878.

This loading rod was particularly useful as it not only enabled an exact amount of powder to be used each time, but it delivered that powder directly to the breech end, by the simple process of holding the powder filled end of the rod vertical while bringing the barrel down over it until the rod was fully inserted, then turning both up the other way. In this manner none of the powder would stick to the sides of the barrel, and a consistent result was guaranteed. The

“ e Regency period became synonymous with the arts, culture, and conspicuous expenditure by the wealthy” idea had been around since the 1770s, when Robert Wogdon had supplied a reverse top ramrod with his duelling pistols, operating on the same principle.

The compartments contain a chamois leather bag with spare flints, and a number of balls and oiled patches.

The Regency period is named for the nine years from 1811 to 1820 when the Prince of Wales was Regent for his mentally ill father George III. The Regency period became synonymous with the arts, culture, and conspicuous expenditure by the wealthy.

Amongst the beneficiaries of this extravagance were the gunmakers of London. They were able to produce high quality firearms because the aristocracy was prepared to pay for them, led by the Prince Regent himself, who was very interested in fine guns. He bestowed Royal Warrants on a number of gunmakers, one of them being John George Lacy.

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Regency Duelling Pistols

“ is was the beginning of a golden era for English gunmakers” Lacy appears on the historical record initially as a partner with Elizabeth Bennett from 1808 to 1810 as Bennett and Lacy. He then was on his own as J.G.Lacy, Royal Exchange until 1815, when he formed a new partnership with David Witton, operating as Lacy and Witton and in the 1820s as Lacy and Co, followed in the 1830s by Lacy and Reynolds until 1852. This is useful because it establishes the date of the pistols to between 1811 (when the Prince became Regent) and 1815, when the change to Lacy and Witton occurred.

Blackmore’s Gunmakers of London shows various simultaneous warehouse and business addresses which indicate that Lacy was involved in several businesses over at least four decades.

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Even without this evidence, the pistols and case exhibit exactly the style and technical developments one would expect around 1815. This was the beginning of a golden era for English gunmakers, when craftsmanship and technical innovation were producing superb firearms. And it was not just at the top end that finely made and well designed guns were being produced – the quality of all types of English firearms was lifted to new levels during this time.

In the following decades the English retail firearms trade enjoyed good business. Recreational shooting emerged as a popular pastime for more people – not only seen in the building of great numbers of shotguns and deer rifles, but also in the specialist heavy double rifles being designed for dangerous game hunting in Africa and India. Although duelling was phased out of

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the social culture of England over this time, gunmakers who made duelling pistols found a new market in specialized target pistols with rifled barrels to meet the demand for pistols for recreational shooting.

The pistols that John Lacy made around 1815 represent to me the end of the flintlock era and the beginning of another, briefer period based on the new percussion system. The next major milestone for the English gun trade was the move away from parts built by lots of separate pieceworkers and assembled by a master gunmaker, to the factory environment of interchangeable components – but that is another story.

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References 1. British Gunmakers: Their Trade Cards, Cases and Equipment 1760 -1860, W Keith Neal and DHL Back, Compton Press, 1980 2. Gunmakers of London 1350 – 1850, Howard L Blackmore, George Shumway Publisher (USA and Canada edition), 1986 3. Gunmakers of London Supplement, Howard L Blackmore, Museum Restoration Service, 1999 4. The Mantons: Gunmakers, W Keith Neal and DHL Back, Herbert Jenkins, 1967 5. The Manton Supplement, W Keith Neal and DHL Back, Compton Press, 1978 6. The Mantons 1782 – 1878, DHL Back, Historical Firearms, 1993.

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Henry (Harry) Scott and his Revolvers It is now over ten years since Henry (Harry) Scott died 10 February 1994, and I think for the record his story should be told. He was born 10 September 1921 and lived in Brighton, Victoria.

Words By Neil G Speed

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t the sale of Henry Scott’s Colt collection by Christies on 1st March 1994 in Melbourne, there was one particular lot (180) of interest to me. It was a piece of junk by collecting standards and there were only two people bidding for it, nobody else in the room was interested. I expected to acquire it for only several hundred dollars but there was a UK dealer in the room who either did not read the catalogue description or look at the item during the viewing or both, for he ran me up to $1,500 for a modern assembled piece of junk. As an overseas dealer he was being very silly but I knew the pistol’s significance.

It is now over ten years since Harry Scott died (10 February 1994) and I think for the record his story should be told. He was born 10 September 1921 and lived in Brighton, in one of those short prestigious streets that run off St Kilda Street down to the beach.

His family was involved in real estate and land development, one of the biggest and best known would be the Walter Burley Griffin designed Milleara Estate to the south of today’s Calder Freeway at Keilor East.

Due to the 1929 Depression, the family mansion in Brighton was sold and the family moved to their holiday home in the Dandenongs at Belgave in 1931 and there they remained.

Although Harry was involved in the family business, he had a passion for machinery and either in 1938 or 1939 he did a three year turning and fitting course in twelve months. When war broke out he joined the army and ended up at the Army Waterborn Workshops at Port Moresby.

Following the war the family business picked up with returning servicemen looking to marry and build a home.

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He always had pistols, even as a schoolboy in Brighton, Harrington and Richardson Young Americas etc., so in the late 40s and into the 50s having obtained a gun dealers licence he started to acquire percussion Colts and more modern pistols being returned to the private sector by the army; these had been impressed from the public when the Japanese were breathing down our necks. Somewhere he acquired the frame of a Colt 1851 Navy Richards Mason Conversion, serial no.

1758 with its original hammer, loading gate and with the two line patent dates on the left of the frame.

He also acquired, probably from various sources, other Colt parts. He had a barrel from a Victoria Police Navy without serial no., but the projectile loading groove has been enlarged for a Thuer cartridge and a set of iron backstrap and trigger guard which are probably from the same pistol; the trigger guard is serial numbered 168503. In the workshop he had developed, he fabricated an ejector housing tube, rod and spring and milled a round bottom channel along the right side of the Victoria Police barrel to take the ejector housing, the space in which the ramming lever pivots he plugged in the factory style. The last thing was to make a set of grips to suit the trigger guard and backstrap.

He then figured out and calculated how to make a cylinder with the correct indexing for rotation and locking the cylinder in the fire rotation. Simple!

It would have been at this time that Harry was involved in the pistol shooting movement for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, but that is another story with some other well-known Melbourne men involved.

Suffice to say that competitive pistol shooting remained after the Games, overcoming official opposition, mainly from the police, but there was still a problem.

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Henry Scott Revolvers

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Following the war, we still had import restrictions and could not afford to spend the almighty American dollar to import modern pistols. The early pistol clubs used anything that was available that was suitable for the Olympic disciplines. The fertile mind of Harry Scott clicked in, “I rebuilt a Navy Colt, I’ll build target revolvers”.

So 36 years later at auction I paid $1,500 for the grandfather of the Henry Revolvers; what would a pommy collector have done with, or known about it?

Harry was one of the first private people to use investment casting, also known as lost wax moulding, for his main component parts, frame, loading gate, hammer, trigger, locking bolt, pal, backsight blade and backsight body. For interest we list the cost of the manufacture of these components from invoices on hand.

The brass triggerguards and backstraps were sand castings and were charged by the weight of the metal used. Here also is an example.

Clarke Angus & Co. City 6 ½ lbs. gun metal, 4. 6d. per pound. Six and half pounds of metal equals twelve sets.

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Investment Castings Pty. Ltd. Box Hill 10/3/1959 Frame Gate Hammer

£4.5.0 9.6 £1.12.0

Pawl

4.9

Bolt

4.9

Trigger

4.9

Backsight Blade

3.6

Backsight

6.6

He cut the barrels to length from barrel stock and all other minor parts he manufactured himself.

The working parts, frame and loading gate were heat treated in a small furnace in an old hen house at the back of the property. He manufactured the pawl spring himself from clock spring but the spiral spring for the ejector rod (1/3d.) mainspring (5/6d.) and locking bolt/trigger spring (5/6d.) were made by the Industrial Spring Co. of Kensington. If the Richards Mason was the grandfather, his prototype was the father of the production run. This revolver

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has no markings other than the serial number, 001A on the frame forward of the trigger guard. All the production models have their serial numbers on the frame and the rear of the cylinder. Serial No. 15 is the only one known to have the number also on the trigger guard. The barrel is marked “The Henry Arms Co Pty Ltd Melbourne”.

Reference to the chart will show that production was done in batches which would have amounted to machining a frame casting to the point that it became a “firearm” and needed it to be numbered and accounted for. From this point there would be a need to decide whether it was to be a .38 Special or .22 Rimfire. He only made two revolvers in two different calibres and they were both in the first batch. No. 6 in .45 Long Colt and for that he used a Colt New Service barrel and No. 12 in .38 Smith and Wesson or 38/200 as the British term the round. This revolver was made for the service calibre of the day for the pistol club at the Woomera Rocket Range and ended up back in the U.K. So it was probably destroyed following Dunblaine. As a matter of interest No. 30 was saved from our recent buyback by the author.

In the first batch Nos. 1 – 13 were entered in the

firearms register but the four lines 7,8,9 and 10 are blank apart from the numbers; they were never built, perhaps with the intention of going back at a later date and building low numbered guns.

Apart from these four skipped numbers, there are a total of seven others over the whole range that were never completed, 3,5,24,34,36,37 and 38. No. 3 is the most complete, barrel with foresight, frame with loading cylinder, arbor pin, hammer and trigger guard, backstrap assembly; no internal parts. This was to be presented to Museum Victoria but Harry became very annoyed with the Museum for trading off the Colt Walker “C. Company No. 219” (Penrose 427), for the wreck they now have and several all metal Scottish Highland pistols. The other six are finished machined frames with matching cylinders only.

All known other examples have the firing pin as part of the hammer, except for #24 which has the aperture for the firing pin threaded, so it was intended to have a spring-loaded floating firing pin within the frame to be hit by a flat faced hammer. Also note the loading gate carries the number 99, as do all the gates, for it was an original Colt assembly number on the gate that Harry used for his wax pattern.

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Henry Scott Revolvers

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Serial #1 is in its own way also a prototype revolver. To fire the piece you need to draw the hammer all the way back to rotate and lock and cylinder but then ease the hammer forward Âź of an inch to engage the cocked sear. The hammer has a number of holes bored through it to make it lighter and the pistol was fitted with a stronger mainspring.

All of this decreased the lock time, from when the hammer starts to fall until it strikes the cartridge. It worked, for No 4 was built the same way and was used in the world championships in Cairo in 1962 Summery Prototype

1

Never built

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Not completed

7

38 Special

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22 Rimfire

8

45 Long Colt

1

38 S&W

1

Total

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by Mr Tibor Gonczol who has won many state and Australian titles with No 4. It is one thing to arrange wax models, have the castings made, but then the castings must be machined. One of the benefits of investment casting is the great degree of repetition accuracy in the castings with little need for surface machining, but all holes need to be drilled and threaded.

Harry set about and made his own jigs, two examples are shown. The first is for the frame, the first requirement was to drill the cylinder arbor hole as indicated by the red dowl. With this central point established the other frame holes are then ready to be drilled and tapped. The guide holes for the hammer, locking bolt and trigger screw enter this jig from the reverse side.

The other jig is an interesting arrangement for finishing a hammer that is clamped into the jig and the guide holes to drill the pivot, the stud hole for the pawl, the pin hole for the main spring roller and the holes for the firing pin retaining pin enter from the reverse side. On the left the plate marked with a yellow patch has two guide holes. The upper of the two guide holes is for a centrefire firing pin and

the drill is simulated by the top red dowl passing through the jig and into the face of the hammer. It will be noted that the yellow marked plate on the left is held in place by two cheesehead bolts, by undoing these and turning the plate end for end brings the other drill hole, indicated by the short red dowl, to its correct position. This is to drill the hole to accept a rimfire firing pin in a higher position, where the top of the cylinder is used as the anvil for a rimfire cartridge. When you follow this through you will note the need for two different small holes to take either a rimfire or a centrefire firing pin retaining pin as indicated by the two small red dots at the top of the hammer.

Harry only ever built one self-loader in .22 rimfire based on a Hi Standard design, being his prototype it is also serial numbered 001A. It is the only pistol he made that carries its true manufacturing address.

He also made his own magazines by wrapping sheet steel around a former and spot welding the joint.

The pistol has fired hundreds of thousands of round as a club gun for the original Melbourne Pistol Club.

At the peak of his interest to commercially manufacture target pistols he purchased several acres of bushland to set up a testing range. This led to buying further adjacent blocks until he had just over 400 acres of very pretty undulating, treed grassland.

To fully utilize the land he went into cattle breeding.

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Henry Scott Revolvers

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Although Harry Scott had set out to commercially manufacture target revolvers, and he is the only Australian ever to do so; when I first met him in 1961 he was very busy fencing his new land, building hay and machinery sheds etc., and the manufacture of pistols ceased being a concern for two reasons; firstly the farm and cattle became a priority, secondly he reckoned he was only working for the government with the sales tax he needed to collect and pay.

Harry used to refer to the Howards Auto Cultivator (HAC) revolvers in calibre 38 Smith and Wesson made in the dark days of 1942/43 as the “Australian Walkers”.

Yet, like the original Walker, the HAC’s were military pistols but due to the desire to have absolute interchangeability, production was very slow and Australia made somewhere about 350 of them. By this time America had entered World War 2, and with the Lend Lease our army had all the Colts and Smith & Wessons it needed, so the HAC project was abandoned.

If the Howard Auto Cultivator Company production was only about 350 revolvers, and Harry built and sold 27 of his units, I think a Henry based on rarity value is Australia’s true Walker, for these are a rare and very hard arm to find.

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HARRY SCOTT Words By MITCH FROST AND PROFESSOR COLIN MOORE

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etween 1958 and late 1962 Harry Scott manufactured target revolvers in Melbourne, based on the Colt Single Action Army, M1873.

These pistols were well made under the name of The Henry Arms Co Pty Ltd, 229 Collins Street Melbourne C1, Vic. The pistols were made in .22, .38 S & W special, .45 Long Colt. A company brochure has been reproduced.

Harry Scott made and sold approximately 40 revolvers. They were used by Tibor Gonczol, a world champion pistol shooter, who represented Australia at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the Men’s 25 metre rapid fire pistol. In the Olympics, Tibor used a semi-automatic pistol. However he did use a Scott revolver in the World Championship in Cairo in 1962, and won many Australian National Titles and State Titles with a Scott revolver.

The features of these revolvers were a heat treated, nickel steel frame, hammer and trigger in subdued colours, blued barrel and cylinder, plain bronze

trigger-guard and backstrap and two piece oil finished blackwood grips.

In recent years we have been able to acquire the 8 pistols illustrated.

In 2004 Neil Speed published his article on Henry (Harry Scott and his Revolvers in Caps and Flints, the magazine of the Antique Arms Collectors Guild of Victoria). Neil has kindly allowed us to reproduce his article. Unfortunately most of the original photos and artwok could not be reproduced, and the only photo we could find is that of Harry with his mate “Charlie Brown” framed by the windows of a carriage of Puffing Billy. The Puffing Billy Railway in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne is still going, and was Harry Scott’s other passion.

Most of the pistols were built with a 5 7/8th barrel, and had THE HENRY ARMS CO PTY LTD MELB. Stamped on top of the barrel. Most also were fitted with adjustable front and rear sights. We would be very interested in hearing about any other Scott revolvers.

As most would remember him at the shows and meetings, the old hat and his mate Charlie Brown.

Here they are framed by the windows of a carriage of Puffing Billy.

Harry and Charlie had a party act, Harry would sing and Charlie would howl the accompaniment.

Here they are in the middle of an act, Charlie has his head back giving full vocal backing to whatever “His Master’s Voice” was singing.

It must be a Sunday, the bale twine has been replaced with a leather lead!

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The Mystery of Captain Richard Swann’s Indonesian Kris The story surrounding Captain Swann’s kris reveals a fascinating insight into this extraordinary period of history. The fine condition of the kris shows how highly it was prized by Swann and his heirs.

Words By Robert Hales

D

uring the mid 1970’s I was invited to give a talk on the Indonesian kris to the Arms and Armour Society in London. Afterwards Phillip Annis from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, invited me to look at an unusual kris that been given to the museum by an old maritime family. A description of it was published in Swords for Sea Service (1). It had a gold handle of an unusual form encrusted with numerous small rubies, and the scabbard bore an intriguing inscription: ‘Given by the King of Andragera to Captain Rich: Swann 1640’.

Although the kris was nearly 350 years old, it was in superb condition and was generally assumed to be 19th century. I was convinced that the inscription was authentic and that it was an early piece. The dagger was on public display in a glass case, but as I stared at it I had a very strange feeling that one day I would own it.

About ten years later I received a phone call from Fred Wilkinson, who was then head of the Arms and Armour department of Sotheby’s. He thoughtfully informed me of an unusual kris with a painted inscription that was to be included in a future sale.

He began reading the inscription ‘Given by ..,’ and I was able to finish the sentence, realizing that it must have come from the Maritime Museum. The kris had been on loan, and when the owner, Miss Mary Graves Hamilton died, her executors decided to sell it. The sale catalogue stated that there was a Captain Richard Swann in the 17th century, but due to the kris’s pristine condition it was assumed to be 19th century.

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Portrait of Captain Richard Swann, aged 32. Dated 1649.

Some months later the head of the Old Masters Department at Sotheby’s phoned to say that as I had bought Richard Swann’s kris, I might like to buy his paintings. I was delighted to hear that there was a large portrait of Captain Richard Swann, dated 1649, and also a contemporary oil painting of the kris along with its red silk velvet bag. The paintings were to be sold on 2nd March 1983 in the ‘Seventeenth, Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century British Paintings’ sale in Bond Street. The pictures were also part of Mary Graves Hamilton’s estate. Fortunately I was able to buy the portrait of Captain Swann and the painting of his kris. There was also a portrait of his wife Dorothy, dated 1650.

Later, while comparing the kris in my hands to that in the painting, I noticed that the inscriptions differed: the sheath in the painting bore the inscription ‘Given by the King of Achem to Captain Rich: Swann 1638’; whilst the actual sheath was inscribed ‘Given by the King of Andragara to Capt. Richard Swann 1640’.

Achem (Aceh) was the dominant trading centre of Sumatra, situated on the northern tip, whereas Andragara (Indrageri) is a region halfway down the East Coast, and a centre for trading pepper. I was

17th century painting of the Swann Kris.

quite puzzled by this mysterious discrepancy.

Several months later I received a phone call from Lewis Hill, an academic based at the University of Hull. He had seen the kris in the Maritime Museum and been inspired to research Captain Swann. He kindly gave me some notes concerning Swann’s voyages and suggested the possibility that there could have been two mariners named Richard Swann operating in the first half of the 17th century, or perhaps that Swann had an incredibly long active career.

The first mention of Richard Swann comes from 1617, when he served under Captain Andrew Shilling, and in November 1623 he was recorded as master of the Charles in Bantam, Sumatra.(2) Further research showed that there were indeed two Richard Swanns - father and son. The earlier Richard Swann was killed aboard the Lion in 1626, and was the father of Richard Swann of Mickleton.

The younger Richard Swann and his wife Dorothy were buried with members of the Graves Hamilton family in the Church of St Lawrence, Mickleton, in Gloucestershire, where there are several helpful inscriptions:

The Swann Kris.

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Captain Richard Swann’s Kris

Tomb of Richard Swann on the floor of the Church of St Lawrence, Mickleton, Gloucestershire.

The inscription reads:

HERE lyeth the Body of Captain RICHARD SWANN who had made six Voyages to the East India’s and departed this life the 30th of June 1676 Etatis Suae 59 was the son & heir of Capt. Ri. Swann sometime an Admiral in ye Indian Seas, by Damaris Daughter & cohort of Capt. Andr. Shilling who being Admiral of the English, obtained ---- Victory over the Portuguese in two Sea-Fights near lasues in the Gulph of Perfia , but receiving a mortal wound, dyed shortly after & was buried ther in 16--.

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The Graves Family Memorial Plaque on the Wall of the Church of St Lawrence, Mickleton, Gloustershire.

Part of the inscription on the grave of Samuel Graves and his wife Susanna (daughter of Richard Swann) has been transcribed below: SAM GRAVES son & heir of Rightful Lord of the Manor who by Sussana daughter & cohort of Capt. Ri. Swann & Dor. Danvers his wife of Capt. Ri. Swan then by Damaris daughter & cohort of Capt. Andr. Shilling, had issue 6 sons & 3 daughters. He died 1708 aged 59 & she, 1717 aged 68 & were both buried here.

Portrait of Susanna Graves, daughter of Richard Swann, and her husband Samuel Graves of Mickleton. Dated 1682.

RICHARD SWANN AND HIS KRIS

S

wann died in June 1676 aged 59 years and so his maritime career is unlikely to have begun much before the mid 1630’s. Armed with this information it was possible to obtain the records of Richard Swann’s baptism, marriage, will and probate, together with some information on where he lived during his relatively wealthy final years, and to sketch out the following account of his life.

Richard Swann was baptized on 24th August 1617 at St Dunstan, Stepney, London. His father, also Richard Swann, and his mother, Damarys Shilling, the daughter of Captain Andrew Shilling, were also of Stepney. (Andrew Shilling carried Sir Thomas Roe home from India in 1619 on the Royal Anne (700/900 tons). Damarys is also mentioned on the Graves Hamilton memorial at Mickleton.

The first clear indication of the younger Richard Swann’s maritime career was in August 1639 in Bantam, where his signature can be found on an attestation of a pepper trans-shipment from the Expedition to the Reformation (3). Another

signature in December 1643 (inter alia) concerns the appointment of Captain Michael Yates for the Hopewell (4). The servants of the East India Company were permitted to trade on their own account to some extent. During this period the London merchants trading into the East Indies were suffering fierce competition from the Dutch and ‘and factory after factory had been abandoned or was too dangerous and expensive’(5). Investors had a rude shock following the rich early years. Shipping was expensive: ‘vessels wore out rapidly in the tropical waters, or were lost in the hazardous voyage home’(6). Well-armed maneuverable small ships of around 300 tons were particularly suitable for sailing among the numerous small islands and were usually centered in Jambi (next to Indragiri). They were also useful as dispatch ships carrying messages between England and the factories of Asia (7). On the outward voyage the Bantam fleet carried enough provisions and gold for twenty-four months. Ships left London at the beginning of March and tended to gather in Bantam (on the Northern tip of Java) in September before the eastern monsoon, and prepare for the homeward voyage to London between November

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Captain Richard Swann’s Kris

and February. Rice and Indian cloth were exchanged for spices, but the Dutch had largely succeeded in monopolizing this trade by blockading the Straights of Malacca, and extracted punitive terms for their goods. The situation in England was an added burden. By 1640 King Charles 1st, desperate for money to boost his depleted funds, seized the entire stock of pepper held by the East India Company.

The outbreak of the English Civil War was imminent (1642-58); it was to ravage the country and cost the lives of 10% of the adult male population.

It was during the period between 1638 (in Aceh, according to the painting), or 1640 (in Indraghiri, as the actual inscription reads) that Swann was presented with his kris, probably having offered favourable terms for the pepper and perhaps some aid and protection to the Sultanate. Unfortunately, a fire in Whitehall destroyed many of the early British records in 1691, and I am grateful to Dr Peter Bourschberg of the University of Singapore for the following crucial information obtained from the Dagh Register of Holland in 1641. It places Swann in Sumatra at the correct time: the Dutch agents report activities of an Englishman named “Swaen” (Swann), who was attempting to barter packs of cotton clothing at Banten and Jambi (another pepper-producing center on Sumatra, located next to Indragiri). They comment that his command of Malay was not good, and that he sailed to Surat, which may have been his base. The unusual form of the Swann kris hilt supports this evidence; the kris is of the Riau type (Indragiri) rather than that of the Aceh. Swann’s relative youth at the time also suggests the later date of 1640 (as inscribed on the scabbard).

1640 was a poor year for pepper in Sumatra and the British were having difficulty purchasing it in Jambi (8). The important pepper season was between September, when the new crop started coming in, and December, when the ships sailed from Bantam to England. The Dutch had blockaded the Straits of Malacca between 1639 and January 1641 and also targeted small emporia that traded openly with other Northern European competitors.

Interestingly there is evidence that Swann was well known to the King of Indraghiri. In the following letter, dated 23rd January 1646, the King explains why he is unable to continue trading with the English, as the Dutch, (having intercepted a letter intended for English merchants in Jambi), had taken several of his small ships hostage and refused to release them unless they cease trading with the English (9).

Translation of a letter from ye King of Endrageera Received by ship Swann who arrived in Bantam ye 23th January 1646.

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‘A letter of true and hearty affection from ye Kinge of Endrageera to ye Presidt for the English Nation in Bantam & ca: you shall hereby understand yt wee have received yor letter and what else you sent mee

by Capt. Swann although wee know not how wee may deserve such courtesies at yor hands. The letter wch yor Merchts in Jambee sent mee I have received and accordingly retorned them my answare there unto, by a Chyna prawe of Jambee yt was at yt time here in this River, but these Chynamen instead of carrying my letter to Jambee to ye English delivered them to ye Dutch, by meanes whereof the Dutch arrived here before your shipp Swann. It was my desire yt both Nations might have trades here together, but ye Dutch refused to admit any Compartners in trade wth them, and there uppon seized and tooke sevirall of my prawes and Junkes, whereupon I called for Mr Swanne and demanded of him if hee could helpe and assist mee in recovering my people and their goods againe from ye Dutch, whose answar unto mee was yt hee knew not how to relieve mee in this pticular, wch caused mee to make this agreement with ye Dutch, yt upon ye release of my people and goods, ye English should depart. But this (sic) much I am very confidente of; yt the Dutch and wee shall not trade long quietly together, tis but onely their pride to thrust ye English out of my Country, ye soe they may carry all ye pepper wch Endregeera yearly affords to Jaccarta v Mallaccca. Notwithstanding all this my love and affection to ye English is allwayes constant and ye same it was first, and if once you hears yt ye Dutch and wee are at variance, or yt they doe not build a house here in Endrageera, come again and trade in my Country and you shall be welcome.’

Endorsed ‘Received in Bantam ye 23th January 1646 per ship Swann’

During the 1640’s Indraghiri was ruled by Raja Jamaluddin Suleimansayah (1599-1658) (Sultan Mohammadsyah). The kingdom extended from Indragarir Hilir, Indragiri Hulu, Rengat, Kelayang, Peranap, Baturaju Hulu and Baturaju Hilir, one of the few Hindu named regions on the N. W. Coast of Sumatra. The economy was based principally on the export of pepper.

As the Dutch succeeded in monopolizing trade, eventually Jambi was the only remaining factory. The Indraghiri factory was dissolved in 1622 although individual English traders such as Swann, were able to conduct some business. The Swann was in Bantam each year between 1642-1646 although

there is no record of her crew during this time (10).

Richard Swann was in Bantam again on 5th April 1647 according to a declaration of the landing of the Endymion (11).

On 13th May 1648 at the age of 30, Swann married Dorothy Danvers, aged 25, at Stepney. Shortly afterwards their portraits were painted; Swann’s is dated 1649 and his wife’s is dated 1650. Their daughter Susanna was born in 1650 and it was through Susanna’s marriage to Samuel Graves in 1674 that the kris eventually passed down to Miss Mary Graves Hamilton, over 300 year later. The portrait shows Swann in the sober dress of the Commonwealth Period, his left arm holding a telescope, and resting on a globe. His right hand points to a fleet of ships in the background. Once his portrait was completed he sailed to the Spice Islands again and commanded the Anne, a frigate of 230 tons with 20 guns and 48 crew, that left Bantam on December 6th 1649 loaded with pepper (12). On reaching James Island the pepper was trans-shipped from the Anne to the Endeavour (13).

By 20th January 1652 Swann was in Bantam again and received instructions from Thomas Penniston and Thomas Winter for the homeward voyage on the Anne (14). One of the passengers was Charles Wylde, who wrote a journal of the voyage home, the only account of a voyage with Captain Swann (15).

According to Wylde, Aron Baker, the President of Bantam, also issued orders to Swann, including that Charles Wylde was to be given a passage home. At the start of the voyage they called in to Krakatoa to replenish their water supply. A group including Wylde boarded a long boat and on reaching the island they trudged a mile through thick woods to the watering place and hot springs ‘soe hot yow cannot put your hand in’. Several of the crew died within the first few weeks including a young gunner. In February they observed three Dutch galleons, the Ambraaee, a ship of 1,200 tons, the Orange about 1,000 tons and a yawl of 100 tons named the Last Drager. On 3rd March 1652 they reached St Helena and found the harbour full of ships. They joined up with four other English ships: the Eagle commanded by Joseph Prond, the Aleppo Merchant commanded by Thomas Rickman, the Welcome, a frigate commanded by Mathew Wood and the Recovery commanded by Peter Strong. There were also four great Dutch ships in the harbour, and a Danish ship. Later Prince Rupert sailed in with his fleet of twelve ships. The five English vessels set sail together on 15th May. The next noteworthy event was the death of President Thomas Penniston on 1st July at 4pm. Richard Swann was one of the witnesses of his will (16). The other captains were unable to board the Anne due to bad weather so the funeral was delayed

until 3pm on 4th July, with all commanders present.

On 27th July at 4am the light of Scilly was sighted and then land, but the mood changed quickly when warships were observed in the distance. Not knowing if they were friend or foe they prepared for battle, but ‘Praise God it was the Parliamentary fleet under Geo. Abrew’ (Admiral George Ayscue, who was patrolling the English Channel with 38 men-of-war, and was shortly to clash with the Dutch fleet under Admiral de Ruyter at the battle of Plymouth on 26th August 1652).

The Parliamentary fleet conducted them to Plymouth and they arrived on 26th July 1652.

There is a document dated 13th November 1653 between Nathaniell Yemens, a mariner of Barking Essex, and Richards Swann, Merchant of London, for sailing the Providence, and an eighth share of the goods (17). Clearly Richard Swann was becoming increasingly prosperous as a maritime trader. He is mentioned in a 1663 Hearth Tax document; his large house in Shottery, near Stratford on Avon and conveniently near Mickleton, had 11 hearths.

The hamlet of Shottery was also the home of Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare. Swann owned the second largest house in the district (18).

Swann’s will and probate, dated 1676 (19) provide a brief glimpse into the rooms and corridors of his Manor House. Along with the pots and pans, jars of tobacco, silver, pillows, quilts, feather beds, valances, colourful silk curtains, Turkey carpets, tables, chairs and sea chests etc, we learn that; ‘in the great parlor hung a looking glass with Mr. Swann’s picture and his wife’s, and Mrs. Greaves’ picture when a girl (Susanna Swann)’. The master-bedroom was hung with purple silk hangings, valances and curtains with fringes, and in the hall were two great maps, two Indian pikes an Indian bow and an Indian Leading staff, a stand for a book with a great Bible. Sadly there was no mention of the kris, which suggests that he had already given it to his daughter Susanna and her husband Samuel Graves. During the 19th century a member of the Graves Hamilton family wrote a letter to his aunt after he visited her at Kiftsgate Court (20), thanking her for tea and mentioning how nice it was to see the kris again which he remembered as a child. He also wrote that he had also recently returned from a voyage to Sumatra.

Was Captain Richard Swann given the kris by the King of Achem in 1638 (as described in the painting) or the King of Andragerra 1640 (the kris sheath)?

The evidence suggests that the later date is correct based on the style of the kris hilt, documentary evidence from the Dagh Register, and Swann’s relative youth at the time. Perhaps Dorothy Swann had the kris inscribed and painted while he was at sea as a

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Captain Richard Swann’s Kris

surprise for her husband, and on his return he was able to correct the inscription on the sheath but not on the painting. Clearly the kris was considered to be of great importance within Swann’s family as it was rare to commission a painting of such an object in the 17th century.

The Swann Kris The kris itself has a straight blade of a relatively simple form with a separate ganja (crosspiece), and a central ridge running the entire length of the blade. There are four small greneng (sharp curled projections) at the top. The blade has a smooth polished surface with a distinct pamor (originally the contrast between the metals would have been more pronounced). Blades from the Palembang region of Sumatra have a similar pamor, and it is possible that the blade was produced there. The overall length of the kris in the sheath is 47cms and the blade is 34cms.

The hilt (hulu or ukiran) sits on a gold mendak (cup). The lower ring is set with 13 oval rubies and the narrow waist is set with 13 square-cut rubies. Above this eight gold petals, each decorated with 3 rubies, expand to support the gold hilt. The form of the mendak is typical of Malaya and Sumatra.

The hilt is of thick sheet gold over a wood or resin core. At the base 4 raised tri–lobed cartouches are each set with three oval rubies in a raised kundun style setting. The main body of the hilt is decorated with 150 cabochon rubies of varying sizes. The top is set with one square-cut ruby, also in a kundun style setting. The form of the hilt is most unusual and is believed to represent the fruiting body of a large magnolia flower (21). Very few hilts of a similar type are known; one example is in the Central Museum of Jakarta, No. E. 16 (22). The gold hilt has the same basic form but with a more spiked appearance, and is known as ‘The Riau Keris’ . Riau is a large province in Eastern Sumatra, encompassing the old kingdom of Indragiri. The Indragiri River flows from the mountains beyond Rengat to the coast at Tembilahan.

The Riau Keris

The Swann Kris

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Kris Taming Sari

The other example (illustrated above right) is of the famous Kris Taming Sari, probably the most well known Kris in the Malay world. It is synonymous with the legend of Hang Tuah, the famous 15th century admiral and Malaccan warrior, who defeated Taming Sari and was presented with the kris. There are numerous legends about the kris, in one version Sultan Mahmud (ruler of Malacca 1488-1511) carried the kris to Kampar in Sumatra. The Sultan presented it to his son Raja Mudzaffar, who then went to Perak and was anointed Sultan. The kris then became part of the Royal Regalia of Perak. Kampar is a coastal town in the Province of Riau, to the north of Indragiri so perhaps

the famous blade was fitted with a Riau-style of hilt at this time (it is strikingly similar to the hilt of the Swann Kris). The Taming Sari kris is still part of the Perak Royal Regalia, however it is surrounded by mystery as there is no historical record of the kris in the Regalia of the Sultan before the 19th century.

The sheath (wranka) is made from a single piece of wood hollowed out from the top, indicating it was for a kris of exceptional quality or importance.

The majority of Kris sheaths are made in two parts, the crosspiece (gambar) and the stem (gandar).

The elegant boat-shaped gambar is exceptionally thin at the perimeter; the square edges on the right side are only 1mm thick (the sheath weighs only 92 grams). Such a delicate structure is easily damaged and this sheath has a piece missing on the right side of the boat-shaped top. The left side was also damaged at some time and has been re-shaped with a small central point. Originally it would have had a smooth rounded shape. The wranka is decorated with gilded scrolling leaves beneath a lacquered surface.

The front of the gandar has been inscribed in gold lettering in England ‘Given by the King of Andragera to Capt: Rich: Swann. 1640’. The back and front edges of the gandar are covered with a light brown lacquer.

This indicates that the kris would originally have had a pendok (an open-fronted gold sleeve). The gold pendok would have been chased and engraved and when it was originally fitted over the soft lacquer it left an impression of a dotted band (see illustration).

When the kris was presented to Swann by the King it was almost certain to have been complete, and presumably the pendok was lost or stolen at some time during its long history.

The story surrounding Captain Swann’s kris reveals a fascinating insight into this extraordinary period of history. The fine condition of the kris shows how highly it was prized by Swann and his heirs. Indonesian Sultans often presented kris, among other things, as gifts to foreigners during this period; notably the Sultan of Aceh gave a gold kris to King James I of England in 1613. However it is very rare to find a kris complete ete wit with th a history dating back to the 17th century.

Acknowledgements I should like to thank Dr Peter Borschberg and Lewis Hill for the information they have kindly given me, and Wendy Hales for her research on Captain Swann.

References 1. May and Annis, Swords for Sea Service, London 1970, Vol. 1, p. 159.

2. Letters Received by the East India Company from its Servants in the East, vol. VI, 1617, p. 546, Ed. William Foster, pub. London 1902.

3. IOR/E/3/17 ff 34.

4. IOR/E/3/18 ff 261-62:Dec. 1643 5. A Calendar of the Court Minutes, etc. of the EIC, 1635-1639, by Sir William Foster, EIC. 6. Donald F. Lach and Edwin J. van Kley, Asia in the making of Europe.

7. Ibid.

8. Dagh Register, 1640, p. 109.

9. IOR/E/3/20 ff 78-79: 23 Jan 1647.

10. IOR/L/MAR, Dag Records 1600-c 118 79.

11. IOR/E/3/20 ff 125-26.

12. Bal. Krishna, 1924: 341 from Court Book 21:36.

13. IOR/E/3/21 ff 177-78 : 13 Dec 1649.

14. IOR/E/3/22 f 302 : 20 Jan 1652.

15. Charles Wylde Journal 4th Jan – 28th July, BL : Sloane MS 3231.

16. IOR/E/3/23, ff 30-31: 28 June 1652.

17. Graves Hamilton Archives, Gloucestershire.

18. The hearth Tax, Q S 11: Microfilm PG3169.

19. National Archives, PROB 4/7433.

20. Kiftsgate Court, Gloucestershire, has a fine garden that is open to the public, and is famous for the white ‘Kiftsgate Rose’.

21. Hales, Robert, Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour, A Lifetime’s Passion, p. 126, pub.

London 2013.

22. Hamzuri, Drs., Keris, ps. 40 & 42, pub. Jakarta 1984.

IOR (India Office Records and Private Papers)

Top section of the blade showing the pamor

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Persian Percussion Pistols There are two facets of these pistols which have stimulated my interest again in recent times. The hammers are not the usual type of percussion hammer. The mortise or striker is held in the top of the hammer by a screw at the rear of the mortise.

Words By Tony Wood

F

or many years I have been fascinated by Islamic art and Islamic arms and armour. I bought these pistols some years ago in Sydney from a dealer who was closing down his business. They are elegant pistols, octagonal barrels, inlaid with gold. A percussion cap lock, silver faced iron trigger guard and the locks are engraved with a floral design. The lock plate has a sculptured edge.

The hammer is engraved in a similar manner.

There are two facets of these pistols which have stimulated my interest again in recent times. The hammers are not the usual type of percussion hammer. The mortise or striker is held in the top of the hammer by a screw at the rear of the mortise. For many years I did not want to try taking out the screw, however, finally I have. On one of the pistols, after removing the screw and oiling the mortise area, and with some careful manipulation the projection came out. This is shown in the photos.

Joseph Manton pellet lock.

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Also as shown in the photos is the nipple and bolster which is a standard one for a percussion pistol. In the book by Neal and Back, Forsyth and Co. Patent Gunmakers is an illustration (plate 49) of a pair of Forsyth duelling pistols which have a paper patch ignition system, circa 1828. The hammer has a detached tubular extension retained by a screw at the back of the hammer and the hammer on these Persian pistols looks similar.

Pair of duelling pistols, the locks firing by paper patch, c. 1828.

“ ey are elegant pistols, octagonal barrels, inlaid with gold.

A percussion cap lock, silver faced iron trigger guard and the locks are engraved with a floral design”

There are similar illustrations in The Mantons,also

by Neal and Back, of examples of hammers made for firing a tube or pellet lock. I have reproduced some of these photos. There are examples also in Early Percussion Pistols by Lewis Winant (plates 15, 42 and 75).

I should have mentioned that there are no proof or view marks on or under the barrel, nor on the inside of the lock. I have included a photo of the inside of one lock, to show that the lock-work is very competently done, and appears to be as good as a British or European lock of that period.

Pair of Joseph Manton pellet lock pistols, made on his patent of 1816. Serial no. 6938.

Joseph Manton pellet lock duelling pistols, c 1816.

Serial no. 6938.

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Persian Percussion Pistols

“The gold decoration on the top of the barrels bears what appear to be couplets and a date, 1260 ah (1843-44)�

The gold decoration on the top of the barrels bears what appear to be couplets and a date, 1260 ah (1843-44). This gold work and the decoration on the stocks led me to think it was work from India.

However, after more thought, and contributions through the Ethnographic Arms and Armour Forum, I believe the work is Persian. The close mosaic work on the stocks is quite extraordinary and also looks Persian.

The decorative work has been very carefully worked out and both pistols are similar. The work covers the entire stock from the bottom of the grip to the end of the half-stock which is fitted with a piece of horn. In addition a bone line has been inset around the lock, the flat on the reverse, and the holes for the barrel slide are decorated with bone.

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The mosaic pattern consists of hundreds of tiny brass pins hammered into the wood to form circle and star patterns, which are then formed in lines made out of thin brass pieces. The lines are highlighted with red lines which I think are painted.

Also within the circles of brass pins are red and white tiny pieces punched into the wood to make up the circles within the brass stars. The grip is decorated in this way with brass circles and the star shapes. There are then lines of bone decorative shapes around the major brass decoration.

Similarly, the stock under the barrel is decorated with lines of tiny brass pins in the shape of six pointed stars.

The pistols are old, probably early 19th Century, and some of the stock has been damaged. The damaged

stock has been replaced by carefully cutting out the damaged sections and fitting in new pieces of wood.

The surface decoration has not been replaced. In some places gold lines and circles have been painted to cover the new pieces.

Another feature of these pistols that needs consideration is the pineapple terminal or finial to the trigger guard. Theses pistols are fitted with well made, engraved, iron trigger guards. The pineapple is well presented, showing the lines and dots on a pineapple and it is sitting in leaves. The engraving is top class, and probably English. The engraving on the silver lock plate is also very good.

In trying to date and identify my pistols I am drawn to the words of J.F. Hayward in The Art of the Gunmaker VII 1660 – 1830. “From about 1780 the

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Persian Percussion Pistols

“ e stocks on these pistols feel ‘large’, they do not feel as comfortable ‘in the hand’ as most English or continental pistols of the early 19th century”

precision of the lock mechanism, the trueness of the bone of the barrel and the excellence of the balance were the decisive features in judging the quality of a firearm… It is difficult to summarise adequately the main features of a transition pistol, since at a time when artists and craftsmen are trying to evolve a new form, it is inevitable that their achievements should show much variety. In the period round about 1780 there are, nevertheless, a few features that are common to nearly all makers. These all point to the development of a more sober style. They include the abandonment of the side plate and the spurred pommel, the adoption of the pineapple terminal to the trigger guard, and the octagonal barrel.”

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I deduce from this that the trigger guard and lock plate may have come from England. I do not think the stock is English oak, as it is a lighter type of wood. The stocks on these pistols feel ‘large’, they do not feel as comfortable ‘in the hand’ as most English or continental pistols of the early 19th century. I wonder if barrels, trigger guard and lock did come from a pair of English pistols lost in some unknown misadventure in India or Persia have been worked on by very capable craftsmen who have decorated the stock and possibly carved and fitted a new stock and also added the gold work to the barrel. As mentioned earlier, the date on the barrel translates to 1843-44.

1.

2.

The stocks may have been damaged or broken, and there is evidence of Manton tube locks and pellet locks in India. As Paul Duffy explained in his article “An Indian Rifle” in the 2016 addition, Charles Manton visited India at some period between 1822 – 1827. And on the death of Joseph Manton in 1834, all books from the English firm were sent to India.

Bear in mind also that after the Russo-Persian Wars 1804 – 1813 and 1826 – 1828, the souring of the FrancoPersian relations opened the way for British military assistance to Persia. Sir Hartford Jones, visiting as Britain’s envoy in 1809 promised “a subsidy with warlike ammunition such as guns, muskets etc.”

I thank Paul Duffy for his help in writing this article.

4.

3.

5.

References 1. Early Percussion Firearms by Lewis Winant.

2. Forsyth and Co. Patent Gunmakers by W Keith Neal and DHL Back.

3. The Mantons by W Keith Neal and DHL Back.

4. The Art of the Gunmaker VII 1660-1830 by J.F. Hayward 5. Pollards History of Firearms, General Editor Claude Blair.

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Samuel Colt In London Samuel Colt was an American inventor, nventor, industrialist, businessman, and hunter.

He founded Colt’s Patent Fire-Arms ms Manufacturing Company and made the mass production of the revolver commercially ercially viable.

Words By Bill Taylor

S

amuel Colt’s expansion from the USA into Europe in the early 1850s began with the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. It was the e first international industry exhibition, drawing ng exhibitors from all over the world, and it set the grand nd exhibition benchmark for several decades.

The strong British response to the impressive display of Colt’s Hartford made revolvers at the Great Exhibition was a triumph for his marketing.

Colt’s display was a major drawcard for the hundreds of thousands of people who visited the Exhibition Building. He exhibited over three hundred pistols (and some rifles and carbines), which were eagerly examined by naval and military officers and members of the public.

“Colt built on this success through his adept use of publicity, which he approached much more aggressively than the British gun making firms” Colt built on this success through his adept use of publicity, which he approached much more aggressively than the British gun making firms. He targeted people of influence for presentation of his revolvers during and after the Exhibition, including Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales. His instinctive understanding of marketing principles such as selected product placement with celebrities, product endorsements and well placed stories in the print media clearly helped sell a lot of Colt revolvers.

The factory he subsequently set up in London in 1853 received further wide publicity for its manufacturing techniques (including a long article from no less than Charles Dickens). However all did not go Colt’s way. Although he won large orders

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from the Government and his pistols were in heavy demand from officers in the Crimea in 1854-5 and the Indian Mutiny in 1857, he did not win enough European orders in the volume he required to sustain the factory in London: it closed in 1857.

His impact on the English gunmaking industry in those few years was considerable. He demonstrated that by using the mass production techniques that had already taken hold in America he could produce fine quality arms that were competitive on the English

“ e factory he subsequently set up in London in 1853 received further wide publicity for its manufacturing techniques ”

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Samuel Colt London

“By the time the London factory closed in 1857, around 37,500 London stamped Navy Colts had been made” market. His factory workers were carefully selected for aptitude, without regard to whether they had gunsmithing background, and were given machine tool training and good working conditions – a very different approach to the traditional English system.

Colt highlighted that the English trade was in dire need of a major overhaul: it was basically unchanged over the previous two centuries, relying on highly skilled workers and a lot of hand finishing.

Although Colt often claimed that his machine manufacturing process made parts interchangeable without gunsmithing skills being required for fine fitting, any Colt collector today knows that this is not strictly true. Nonetheless, compared to arms whose components were individually handmade by specialised pieceworkers and then assembled and fine fitted by the gunsmith, Colt’s arms were revolutionary.

English gunmaker Robert Adams very quickly realized he could not compete with Colt unless he set up machine process manufacturing as well.

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By the time the London factory closed in 1857, around 37,500 London stamped Navy Colts had been made, to which may be added around another 5,500 partially or completely made in Hartford but stamped with the London address and with the London serial number range. For details, Joseph Rosa’s book Colonel Colt London is the most substantial reference.

Colt’s Hartford factory in Connecticut continued producing Navy Colts until 1873, the year that the famous Single Action Army (the Peacemaker) was produced. The Hartford Navy Model production run by then was over 215,000, which is why so many are still around today. For further reference on all Colt Navy models, Nathan Swayze’s book ’51 Colt Navies is hard to beat.

New collectors of percussion Colts can still find both books on the net, despite being out of print: when I last looked, www. abebooks.com had several copies of Swayze’s book starting at $US70, and Rosa’s book started at $US60.

Despite the two factories producing what purported to be the same revolver, there were considerable differences between them. This article is not intended to examine the differences closely, mainly because the two references above do the job far better and in much more detail. Some of those differences will be noted however as we examine the following examples.

The first is a cased 1851 Navy Model revolver made in late 1856 by the London factory. Its serial number is 32916, stamped in Colt’s fashion on all main parts of the revolver. London proof marks are stamped on the cylinder but not in the usual location on the frame, indicating that the barrel was not officially proved. Missing proofs are not uncommon for London

Colts, as Samuel Colt resented the official proofing requirement. He regarded it as superfluous for his firearms, and was not fussed if revolvers intended for export somehow missed out.

As for most of Colt’s London made revolvers, this has a more slender ‘Slim Jim’ butt than its Hartford counterpart, and an iron trigger guard and backstrap, which were more to the English taste than the silver plated brass fitted to the Navy Models made at the Hartford factory in Connecticut. It also has the high domed screws found only on London made Colts.

The pistol is its original English made mahogany case with loading instruction label and original accessories. It includes the correct Dixon powder ARMS CAVALCADE 2017

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Samuel Colt London

London Factory Colt

Hartford Factory Colt

flask, an Eley tin of 500 percussion caps made for Colt, a number of Eley paper cartridges, the correct boxwood topped cleaning rod, a Colt’s Patent mould, a spare mainspring and trigger, a couple of Colt’s patent nipples, a Dixon stamped pewter oil bottle and the case key. The combination nipple wrench/ turnscrew in the case is unusual in that it is more strongly made than the standard Colt pattern.

The case is the less frequently seen version with the nipple wrench sitting in a partially recessed compartment, rather than on top of a wider partition.

An identical casing is shown at page 232 of Rapley’s Colt Accoutrements 1834-1911. Although this style is not often seen for Navy revolvers it is common for cased London Dragoons, so it is probable that whoever supplied the Dragoon cases to Colt also made this one.

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A closer look The pistol is in excellent mechanical condition. Its gain twist rifled bore is in mint condition, and the tiny safety stops for resting the hammer on the back of the cylinder are still visible. Its cocking mechanism is as crisp as you could wish for, the cylinder locks up nicely, and the frame is rock solid.

The pistol has only traces of its original bright bluing and colour case hardening, but the butt retains most of its original finish with slight wear around its base. The metal edges of the revolver are sharp and clean, but the cylinder scene is somewhat rubbed.

A comparison from Hartford For comparison, the second example is a Navy Model made in Hartford specifically for the English market after the London factory closed. Samuel Colt was a master salesman: despite the disappointment

Hartford Factory Colt

of not being able to sustain a factory in England he continued to promote his guns to the country that engaged regularly in wars involving its many colonial interests.

The revolver’s serial number of 157444 L indicates that it was made in 1863 during the Civil War. Its iron backstrap and trigger guard show that it was specifically intended for the English market, and it obviously made it to England because it bears London proof marks on the cylinder and on the barrel. It has the standard Hartford sized grips which fill the hand more than the slender London made ones on the first pistol.

The pistol retains much of its original blue on the barrel and cylinder, and clear colour hardening on its frame and loading lever. It is in excellent mechanical condition with a fine bore and all matching serial numbers. The grips retain most of their varnish.

This revolver was purchased many years ago from a long established family in South Australia. It seems likely that it did not get a lot of use before it was put in a cupboard. This happened to many of the Colt percussion revolvers made in the 1860s, because by the 1870s the availability of metal cartridge firearms made them obsolete.

It is interesting to note a contemporary mention of Colt at page 14 of Exploring in the Seventies and the Construction of the Overland Telegraph Line by Alfred Giles. He reported that when the 1870 overland expedition was being established, the pistols its members were supplied with by the South Australian

government were ‘a long colt revolver of six chambers and long barrels, with a ramrod fastened to the barrel with which to force down the flimsy skin cartridges’. The revolvers ‘were carried in pouches slung on the belt’.

This pistol was not one of those issued to the expedition as it does not have the SA government marks described in Tony Harris’ excellent reference The Military Small Arms of South Australia 1839-1931.

For those interested in Colt usage in colonial Australia, the landmark study Australian Heritage Colt Percussion Firearms published by John McLean in 2008 is by far the best reference, containing many illustrations and extracts of colonial records.

It is a gold mine of historical information relating to Colt revolvers in Australia, and well on the way ay to to becoming a collector’s item in its own right.

References 1. Colonel Colt London, Joseph Rosa, Arms and Armour Press, 1976 2. ’51 Colt Navies, Nathan Swayze, 1967 3. Colt Accoutrements 1834 – 1911, Robin Rapley, 2006, Christchurch 4. Exploring in the Seventies and the Construction of the Overland Telegraph Line, Alfred Giles, 1926, Adelaide 5. The Military Small Arms of South Australia 1839-1931, Tony Harris, 1997, Adelaide 6. Australian Heritage Colt Percussion Firearms, John R McLean, 2008, Melbourne, published by the author.

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A Javanese Pedang A pedang like this would have been expensive, and would have been available only to an aristocrat, who would have an officer rank.

Words By Paul Duffy & W. Johnston

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pedang is a collective term used for sabres and swords of various types in Indonesia.

The word Pedang is found in old Javanese, and in modern Javanese, in Balinese and Bahasa Indonesia/Malay. The pedang illustrated is a Pedang Lurus from Java (lurus means straight). This variant usually has a beautifully decorated silver hilt and scabbard. An almost straight, partly two edged blade tapering down towards the point. The hilt is round and near the end slightly curved. At the blade the hilt may have a guard exactly fitting the scabbard with its broadened mouth piece. Some examples are made with European blades.

This pedang has a blade 57 cm long and as seen in the photos is made from various kinds of metal forged and mixed, to form a pattern called watermelon skin.

This is the pamor, we have referred to in various articles on keris. The materials used to make the pamor were forge welded and folded back into a billet a number of times. It is called a mulmah pamor, a “laying down” pamor. The pamor component in the vast majority of blades is only the outer skin, the point and cutting edge being provided by steel. In an old blade, the topographic texture of the surface is the result of repeated cleanings, followed by staining, over an extended period of time. The blade would have had a polished surface when it was new. The visibility of the pamor pattern is something that is distinct from the topographic texture. Pamor visibility

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is achieved by a process of staining using arsenic and lime juice. The arsenical material is called “Warrangan”, and the staining process has the same name. This material is sourced from India, the Middle East and China. It is a natural, unprocessed, mineral product that contains other substances as sulphur. You can also use laboratory arsenic trioxide, which can give a more easily controlled stain.

The hilt and the scabbard are made in native silver. The pattern in the silver is produced by use of the technique known as “embossing” or “chasing”. Some writers have reported that Malay silver work uses the technique of “repousse”, which creates the motif by working the reverse face of the silver. This technique is not known in Java or Bali, and nor are moulds used. The entire motif is produced freehand, and this has been the way

“ e pattern in the silver is produced by use of the technique known as embossing or chasing” for centuries. The hilt, into which the tang is fixed, would have been beaten, then filled with a dense sticky mixture called “Jabung”. This is a mixture of natural resin (damar), bees wax and a binding agent, often something like brick dust.

“ e visibility of the pamor pattern is something that is distinct from the topographic texture�

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Javanese Pedang

“ e blade on this piece is old; there are slight signs of wear along the sharp edge of the blade.”

Effectively it is the South East Asian version of European cutler’s wax. It is poured into the hilt, then the tang is heated and pushed home. When the mixture cools it sets like rock. The decorated guard is fitted at this time.

The silver sheath for the scabbard is fixed over a wooden liner which is carved to accept the blade.

The silver pattern is very interesting. Floral shapes intertwined with leaves and vines, and especially on the hilt, finished with hammered cross lines, dots and edging.

On the inside of the top of the scabbard a silver hook has been fitted so that the pedang could be attached to a belt or belt loop. ‘ As with keris it is difficult to date these pieces. There are no maker’s marks or dates stamped in the metal.

The blade on this piece is old; there are slight signs of wear along the sharp edge of the blade. The scabbard and hilt are probably late 19th Century but the blade would be a lot older.

The world of the Javanese keris is centred in the tradition that every man should, if he could, own at least one of these long asymmetrical daggers with the distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and pamor (nickelous iron).

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Consider this brief summary

Not every man would have a pedang, which were used for more formal purposes by palace guards, or by an aristocrat. Javanese military forces were made up of a standing army and levies, usually from the farmers. The levies would supply their own weapons, normally spears, which often were sharpened bamboo.

A pedang like this would have been expensive, and would have been available only to an aristocrat, The blade may have been handed down in the family from father to son. The pedang is still honoured and accepted by the Javanese as a sacred heirloom.

Particularly if it has a pattern blade.

Java has a long history. The rivalry between the Sultans of Yogyakarta and Solo, being areas separated by mountains, has always been integral to this history.

Before the Dutch occupied Java, it was covered in dense forest. The isolated settlements were joined by poorly maintained tracks. Transport wherever possible was by water. The Bengawan Solo, the major river joining the interior with the coast was navigable from Surabaya all the way up to Solo.

Java was an important source of agricultural products for the western world and therefore after the late 18th century became caught up in the politics of Europe.

18 AD – An Indian, Aji Saka, came to Central – East Java and brought “civilisation, Buddhism, letters and the calendar.”

130 AD – India founded settlement in West Java at Salakanagara.

1292 – Marco Polo came to Sumatra in West Java to trade. Then he returned to Venice.

1292 – In East Java the Majapahit Kingdom was founded.

1799 – The Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) The Dutch East India Company was formed.

1808 – The French, who controlled Holland, sent Governor Willem Daendels to Batavia to take control, although he did organise the construction of the Great Post Road across Java Island.

1811 – England occupies Java, which was ruled by Stamford Raffles the Lieutenant Governor of India.

1815 – As part of the Peace Treaty of Vienna the English returned Java to the Dutch.

1825-1830 – This was a period of rebellion, known as the Java war.

1901 – By order of Queen Wilhelmina, the ethical policy (Ethische Politiek) was introduced. The education, medical care and welfare of the native people was greatly enhanced.

1942 – Java was occupied by Japan.

1945 – Indonesia gained independence as part of the Round Table conference in the Hague.

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Javanese Pedang

“the country and the people live their lives with great respect for their folklore and their ancestors. ”

I’ve given this brief history to show that despite the turmoil experienced by Java over past centuries the country and the people live their lives with great respect for their folklore and their ancestors. Indonesian peoples never have, and do not now, think of water as a barrier, they think of it as a highway. They do not speak of their “Motherland” or “Fatherland”, they speak of “Tanah Air Kita” – “Our land and Water”.

For example, the Yogyakarta palace is a living museum. The sultan of Yogyakarta is a hereditary

title that goes back to the 18th century. Even in the 21st century it is an honour to be a palace guard guard.

These men dedicate their lives to the protection of the sultan. There is a cultural link with the palace compound and the people. In some ways almost a spiritual connection. The palace kraton is designed to reflect a Javanese cosmos. It faces toward volcanic Mount Merapi in one direction and towards the Indian Ocean, home of the important Indonesian sea spirit in the other.

And these palace guards carry a pedang.

References 1. Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago by Albert E Van Zonneveld.

2. The World of the Javanese Keris by Garrett and Bronwen Solyom

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Contributors BILL TAYLOR Regency Duelling Pistols Samuel Colt In London Bill Taylor has been collecting antique arms for forty five years in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide. He specializes in English flintlock pistols, and still enjoys finding something good, hidden under a couple of centuries of grime. He also collects antique Japanese swords and fittings.

NEIL SPEED Henry (Harry) Scott and his Revolvers Neil Speed was born in Victoria. He is a founding member of the Historical Arms Collectors Guild of Victoria, and for many years the editor of the Guild’s magazine Caps and Flints. He has written many articles and books on arms with an Australian connection.

ROBERT HALES The Mystery of Captain Richard Swann’s Indonesian Kris Robert Hales jettisoned his job as a microbiologist in London and in the early 1960s began a career specialising in antique Oriental Arms & Armour – trading in Kensington Church Street, London, until retiring in recent years.

TONY WOOD Persian Percussion Pistols A collector for many years, originally British, Colonial and American arms. I then became fascinated with Islamic arms and armour, especially from India and Persia.

PAUL DUFFY A Javanese Pedang I started with British military and sporting arms, as they were available, especially those with colonial markings. But I became fascinated with the art of the gunmaker and the complexity and culture of Islamic and Javanese e weapons. Working with metal.

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