The Field – August 2019

150 WWW.THEFIELD.CO.UK

be compensated for handing back Dad’s

wartime haulrather than find herself the

continuing owner of something she must

havewonderedif shelegallyowned; that’s

theinherentproblemwith‘loot’.

Back in 1799 there was much looting

whenweBritsdidforthepooroldTipuSultan

of Mysore at the Battle of Seringapatam.

InSharpe’sTiger, if BernardCornwellisto

believed,‘TheTigerofMysore’methisbloody

endatthewrongendofnoneotherthanthe

everbraveandresourcefulSergeantRichard

Sharpe’smusket.Bitsandpiecesfromthat

grand extravaganza of looting occasion-

allyturnupat auction.TheSultanisseen

as a major ‘independence’ figure in India

• thusguaranteeingIndianinterestinbuy-
  ingbackhispossessions.Also,hisweaponry
  tendedtobeofthefinestquality,meaning
  theseitemstendtofetchsuper-highprices.
  In2015,a three-poundercannononitsfield
  carriage(insuperbcondition,but...)blewits
  notexactly low£40,000to£60,000esti-
  mateofftheendofitsshapelybarreltosell
  for£1.2m. So,cuemuchexcitementon 26
  MarchwhenAntonyCribbsoldmoreTipu
  warloot– thevendor’swere descendants
  ofa MajorThomasHartwhowas‘allocated’
  theseitemsafterthebattle.Weknowfrom
  Sharpe’s account that the Sultan fought
  bravely to the bitter end: “he was taking
  the jewelled hunting rifles from his aides

Thisthree-poundercannonfromtheBattleof

Seringapatam blew its top estimate at Bonhams

COUNTRYESTATE

UNDER THE HAMMER

in1849.However,hadPrivatePartsorMajor

Disasterbeenfoundwiththat‘royal’bauble

hiddeninhisknapsacktherewoulddoubt-

less havebeen questionsto be answered.

Sparea thoughtfortheBelgian ladywho,

inApril,endeduphandingbackmorethan

600 rare books. Consigned to Sotheby’s,

their specialists noted manymissing front

pages, smelt a possible rat and investi-

gated; a post-sale dispute over legal title

doesnobody’s–vendor,purchaserorauc-

tioneer’s– bloodpressureanyfavours.Post

1945 theAllies,includingtheBelgians,occu-

piedBonnandthelady’sfather(nowdead),a

manoftaste,hadamusedhimselfbymaking

masswithdrawals from the publiclibrary,

thenremovingthelibrarystamp.Troubleis,

heover-reachedhimself.A much-thumbed

copy of Mein Kampf by Germany’s late,

lamented,bestsellingauthor,A Hitler,would

doubtlesshavegoneunremarked,butfine

illuminatedmedievalmanuscriptsandother

rarities certainly were. In fact 180,000,

books were unaccounted for post-1945.

Allied bombing was partly to blame but

Alliedsoldiers– proofif everneededthat

squaddiesarekeenbibliophilesandstudents

ofmedievalLatin– probablyaccountedfor

therest;valuablebooks,stilloutthere,rack-

ing up overdue fees. Sotheby’s identified

theseasfromBonn.Thelady,whoreceived

a ‘finder’s fee’, was probably relieved to

andcalmlyshootingatthemenwhohadso
nearlycapturedtheinnerWaterGate”.First
up,one ofhis‘personal’guns–a 20-bore
flintlock‘repeater’,decoratedinsilver and
gold,carryingtheSultan’s‘H’mark(inAra-
bic)onit.Theonlyproblemwiththisbeauty,
andtherearenearidenticalones‘outthere’,
isthatit wasclearlyusedin the battleas
ithasbeenhit belowthetriggerguardby
a musketballandthe fittingforthe inte-
gralbayonetisdamaged,perhapsbybeing
plungeddeepinto someunluckyattacker;
givingit 10/10forbackstoryandwowfactor,
butloweringitsvalueasa perfect,museum-
qualityexample.Itneverthelessfetchedan
honourable£60,000.Dittoa firangi(sword)
allocatedtothegallantmajor.Thishadan
ancient labelstating ‘TippooSahib Sword’
(sic)but,whilstworkedwithgoldandsilver,
didnothavea ‘tiger’handle,oneofwhich
wassaid to have beenremoved from his
bodyafterthebattle;oneofthis‘tiger’group
swordssoldforaneye-watering£190,000
atthat 2015 Bonhamssale.Thislesser‘Tip-
poo’ firangi, the sort a more lowlymajor
wouldprobablybegladtobe‘allocated’,still
soldfora nottobesniffedat£18,500.
Zulu stuff–thinkMichaelCaine,Stanley
Baker and Rorke’s Drift, 1879 – costs a fraction
BONHAMS; ANTONY CRIBB; GAVIN GARDINER; SWORDERS