Posted: 09/08/18 (14:31pm)I had an amazing night at the Iron Maiden gig in Newcastle. It had been 30 years since I last saw Iron Maiden play and they didn't disappoint. After queuing from 2 in the afternoon I raced to the front and stood the closest I have ever been to the stage (my ears were still ringing 3 days later!). The stage sets were amazing and the raw energy of Bruce Dickinson et al was just as impressive. At 60, the band could run rings around most 30 year olds.
In emulation of my childhood heroes I leapt about, screamed and yelled and sang (to the best of my ability) at the top of my lungs. I felt like I was 18 again.
Unfortunately, the next morning I felt more like I was 80! My shoulders and neck ached, my feet hurt and my throat was raw. Ah well, it was worth it!
At the completely opposite end of the scale, Sue and I spent the weekend down in Cambridgeshire with my parents and on Saturday evening we watched an excellent production of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" at the Tolethorpe Hall open air theatre in Stamford. We arrived early in order to enjoy a leisurely picnic on the lawn, as did most of the audience - it's something of a tradition.
On the Friday, I visited an auction in Derbyshire and picked up some quite rare bayonets. I bought two No.5 Mk II Jungle Carbine bayonets (one of which I listed on Monday) and a No.7 Land Service bayonet. I also bought a No.9 bayonet and the Imperial German Army M1890 Dove Head sword that I have just listed on the website. In the evening, I visited a friend in Peterborough. I hadn't seen him in about 20 years and we have only recently made contact again. The years melted away as soon as we started chatting - the sign of a true friendship. I look forward to catching up with him again soon. From 1991 until 2012 I spent most of the time working abroad and lost touch with all my childhood friends. It's nice to be finding them again.
On Saturday morning Sue and I met with a long time customer and friend in Ely to deliver five of his recent purchases. We enjoyed a coffee together and it was a real pleasure spending time with him. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, a mix of work and play and all of it a pleasure.
Posted: 30/07/18 (12:21pm)Sue and I had a great weekend. We've taken advantage of this glorious summer and done something new and interesting every weekend in July. Last weekend we were in Northampton for the "Singing Sticks" didgeridoo and world music festival and this weekend we were at Thirlestane Castle where the Sealed Knot had mustered to reenact battles from the English Civil War.
It is the first time that we have attended either event and both were excellent. The Singing Sticks festival is a showcase of amazing didgeridoo talent from around the world and is held annually. This was the festival's 10th anniversary, and despite playing the didgeridoo for quite some years now, it was a real eye opener for me. I had not fully appreciated how versatile the didgeridoo can be. It is far from being just a droning backing instrument. The Japanese techno-didge sounded amazing and was incredibly, well, technical. I was quite literally blown away. I really wanted to upload some video to this blog but the file size is just too large.
The Sealed Knot Civil War reenactment and living history camp were fascinating, entertaining and very educational. Again, I had intended to include footage of the clash of arms and roar of cannon and matchlock as well as scenes of camp life but even short clips exceed the allowed file size. I'll have a word with my web guru and see if he can't increase the upload size so that I can add to this blog later. For now, here's a photo of some of the Scots Musketeers. The Scots fought on both sides during the Civil War, even changing sides during the course of battles!
Sue and I learned a great deal and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The attention to historical detail was impressive, so too was the knowledge of the enactors and their presentation of camp life during the Civil War.
I whole heartedly recommend both events.
So, what next? Iron Maiden tomorrow night at the Metro Arena in Newcastle. Variety is after all the spice of life!
Posted: 05/07/18 (11:04am)As usual, I am beginning my blog by stating the obvious. I has been ages since I last blogged. No excuses, and no apologies either - I have a busy life - as we all do. Anyway, a regular customer and friend has pointed out to me that he has been patiently waiting for a new blog. The snows of winter covered the land when last I put finger to keyboard.
A great deal has happened over the last few months. I have moved into a new, larger workshop and have projects and commissions lined up to keep me busy for quite some time. I am also - as always rushing around the country from auction to auction looking for interesting and rare stock. I've picked up some lovely pieces recently, including a unit marked first pattern British P1907 hooked quillon bayonet, a World War II British No.4 Mk1 cruciform spike bayonet (sold already), A beautiful Lancaster and numerous others, all of which are either on or will be added to the website over the coming weeks.
Probably my rarest purchase is also one of the lesser known and collected bayonets. It is an incredibly rare Heavy Dragoon Carbine bayonet dating to the 1770's.
I have to be honest and admit that I did not know this at the time. In fact I thought it was an early Brown Bess musket bayonet dating to the same period.
I have done some research and am now quite sure that it is indeed a 1770 pattern Heavy Dragoon Carbine bayonet; and an early one at that. The later bayonets of this pattern had a longer blade.
For anyone who doesn't know, Bygone Blades has a Facebook page and I update it twice weekly with new stock. Just like and follow the Bygone Blades page and you will get the updates. I limit myself to updating the page twice each week so as not to bombard people with unnecessary posts - we all know how annoying that can be! From time to time, the Bygone Blades page also has free give away competitions. The last prize was a rare Swiss 1916 bayonet in mint condition, delivered free to the lucky winner.
Posted: 01/03/18 (17:36pm)"Winter is coming" may well be the family motto of the fictional House Stark but up here in the Scottish Borders it's a chilly fact. To be more accurate, winter is here! In spades! And the spades are out, so are the snow ploughs. Not that it's doing much good because the snow is relentless. We have drifts of over 100cm and even in sheltered areas the snow lies over 30cm deep and it keeps on coming.
To be honest though, I am rather enjoying it. For starters, Sue is home (the village is pretty much cut off so no one is going anywhere) so I have company and we have been for a couple of great walks. Yesterday we walked in the woods and today we walked down to the River Tweed. I was amazed that such a fast flowing and wide river was almost frozen over. Just the middle was still flowing and that was full of mini ice bergs.
The woods look beautiful (they always do) in their white covering.
Thankfully I spent last weekend buying new stock and after over 1000 miles on the road, got home on Sunday night before the snow.
I started my road trip by hiring a van (I knew I was going to need it) on Friday morning then headed south to a village near York for the first of my stops. On Friday afternoon I headed west to Halifax for my next appointment before continuing south. I stopped for the night in Cambridgeshire then continued early Saturday to Kings Lynn in Norfolk. On Sunday I drove to Northamptonshire where I bought two cannons - hence the need for a van and then back up the A1 to Scotland.
It was a long weekend but fun and hopefully profitable. Sue came too - which was a bonus. Usually I have to do my stock buying road trips alone as most of the time they occur mid week while she is working.
I have just listed a few of the items I bought over the weekend. The Honourable East India Company Sapper's and Miner's bayonet was a really special find. They are incredibly rare. As can be seen from the photos in the listing, this one is in great condition too.
It will take me a while to get round to cleaning up the cannons as they had been stored in a barn for many years and need some TLC. I will probably have to get the barrels media blasted and re-painted as one in particular is quite rusty. They are not quite a matched pair although they are a similar size and both have naval trucks. I will wait until their restoration is complete before putting up any photos - I want you to see them at their best.
Posted: 09/02/18 (14:50pm)I always seem to begin my blogs by apologising for their intermittent nature and stating the reason for my tardiness as being down to my busy life. It's true, I am busy, and my blogs are intermittent, but hopefully, when I do get down to writing one it is because I have something interesting to share.
In the six or seven weeks since my last blog I have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year - I hope you all did too. I certainly wish you all the very best for 2018.
Sue and I went to Prague for Christmas and as a treat for her I bought tickets for the Nutcracker at the National ballet on Christmas day. It was my first ballet and I have to say I was impressed. Men in tights and desperately skinny women prancing around the stage is not generally my idea of a good night out but I have to acknowledge the fitness, skill and dedication of the dancers and the stage sets were fantastic. All in all, I rather enjoyed it although I'm not sure I will be hurrying to buy tickets for another performance.
Prague is a beautiful city. Probably the most beautiful city I have visited anywhere in the world and I whole heartedly recommend a visit. The Christmas markets filled every square and the smell of mulled wine, sugared almonds and barbecued meat filled the air. The architecture is impressive, the streets are spotless, the beer and food is great and the history and culture are not to be missed. Prague definitely has the "Wow" factor.
The one niggle for me was that the numerous "antique" shops all seemed intent on ripping off unwary buyers with their poor quality fake Russian Shashkas and other Indian made fakes. Shame on them.
In January, I spent a couple of days in the Manchester area at the much anticipated auction of the Reginald Cheetam collection. Inspecting the lots prior to the auction was like being in a museum that allowed visitors to handle the exhibits and where, if your pockets were deep enough it was possible to take home your favourites. Needless to say, I did. Some of my purchases are already listed for sale on the website and some have already been sold. There were a number of extremely rare bayonets in the collection and I was able o buy a few of them. My rarest purchase was of a Lee Metford M1888 Mk1 Type 1 bayonet with the iconic three brass rivets in the hilt. I also bought a scarce British P1903 bayonet in almost mint condition and a Royal Navy issued Lee Metford M1888 Mk1 Type II bayonet. My other purchases were mainly swords and included the Scottish Highland Infantry officer's basket hilt broadsword with Edward VII royal cypher, the Italian model 1833 artillery sabre, both of which are on the website, several sword canes and an early 19th century French naval cutlass.
Last week I bought an incredibly rare sword. In fact it is so rare that only a handful are known to exist and it doesn't appear in any of the books describing Victorian military sword patterns. The Royal Armouries do however own one, albeit without a scabbard and I know of two others in private collections.
The sword I am talking about is the British pattern 1821 artillery officer's short sword. At the beginning of the Crimean War, a small number of artillery officers decided to have 1821 pattern swords made with shortened blades.
The standard artillery sabre was intended for use on horseback but once the guns were in place, a mounted officer presented an easy target. Sensible officers dismounted. On foot, the standard length P1821 proved unwieldy so commissioning one with a shorter blade made sense. Any fight to defend the guns would be a close quarters affair and as a fighting officer knew, it was good to have an advantage.
It is likely that these rare swords were only carried by officers below the rank of Major. Officers more likely to be involved in a desperate defence of the battery. The swords were bespoke orders and were produced in very low numbers and as such were not adopted as an official pattern making it very hard to find one today.
Posted: 21/12/17 (11:50am)Just a quick blog today to thank you all for your custom over the last year and to wish you all a very happy Christmas.
Have a wonderful and relaxing time and I look forward to dealing with you in the New Year.
