Rare & Intricate Prisoner-of-war Carved Bone Gaming Set, circa late 18 century

Original Large French Gunner's Powder Horn, Naval - French, late 18th century. Of large size used to load cannons aboard ship. With fitted wooden plug and brass dispensing spout. T...

A FINE CARVED GERMAN OR AUSTRIAN 18TH CENTURY STAGS HORN POWDER FLASK - The front face expertly carved with two hunters in a wooded river bank scene with hounds and two flighting duc...

Small figural romantic dagger - late 19th century - with 10.75cm double edged tapering plated bade with cast and silver plated grip in the form of a Knight in armour with battle ax...

Vintage reproduction gauntlet, early 20th century. A left handed gauntlet with all fingers and thumb present, jointed and riveted with leather in...

An incredible and extremely rare artifact of world history, this mutton bone model of a guillotine was created during the Napoleonic wars by a French prisoner of war. Many of the inmates at the prisoner of war camps were skilled artisans long before they were soldiers, and because of the long duration of the conflict and cost of care, their captors encouraged detainees to use their skills to create objects to be sold at civilian open markets. Because of the intricacy of these fascinating objets d'art, very few of these models have survived the test of time. This masterpiece is impeccably detailed with soldiers and cannons lining the platforms. Adding to the rarity of this piece is that it has moving parts, as only a scant few model carvings were ever created with such mechanical accuracy. The soldiers have movable arms, while the guillotine features a movable "blade" for added authenticity. By many accounts, Napoleonic prisoners of war...

Napoleonic Prisoner of war painted casket dominoes set We share what we love, and we love this early 19th century Napoleonic prisoner of war hand painted ...

A Napoleonic era bone prisoner of war model of the 40-gun frigate ‘Creolian’, the three masted barque with a planked hull, finely detailed with a carved poop deck and a female figurehead, intricate black thread rigging and a black plaque stating in gilt, Creolian. In the original glazed wooden case with a painted background of a sunset over a bay with ships on the horizon. French, circa 1800. Provenance Ivan Roll Amis, d. 1 July 1970 Richard Henry Allen Amis, CBE, thence by descent During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), large numbers of French soldiers and marines were taken prisoner. To help pass the time and generate a small income, they would make a variety of objects—including ship models—from simple, easily-sourced materials such as bone and wood for sale at local markets. Typically, the models were not made to scale and tools were limited, making the quality and attention to detail in this work even more remarkable. To realise a good price at market, the models were often named after famous ships of the time. It may well be that this ship was the ‘Créole’, a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She served in the Brest squadron, took part in Ganteaume’s expeditions of 1801 to Egypt, and was involved in the French acquisition of Santo Domingo (also known as the Era de Francia) and briefly detained Toussaint Louverture...

Rare WWII Italian Prisoner of war work model of Italian heavy cruiser 'Zara' with finely detailed superstructure and armament in a cedar and pine glazed c...