Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

B.I · 9th January 2005, 09:21 PM

i've been in touch with mare rosu privately but thought to offer some of the information here as well.
this dagger is indeed from the mysore armoury and the inscription is kannada script. i cannot give a precise translation, but this was a series of inscriptions, all almost identical and without a doubt inscribed at the same time. in the early 1990s, a load of them were translated. all held the words 'sri krishna' which refers to Krishnaraja Wadiyar 3rd of mysore. then follows a series of inventory numbers and a short description of the piece (eg hidden dagger, big dagger etc). the pieces in the present mysore armoury show this inscription, as do the pieces that left there just over 10 years ago.
the maharaja decided to sell a quantity of weapons from the armoury (i believe they were owned by the state, and not himself). these weapons were transported from mysore to dehli, where they were held by an arms dealer. the collection consisted of around 700 pieces, 300 of which were bought by an english dealer and transported to england. the whole collection was then sold to an australian businessman/collector and then, for some unknown reason, bought back a short while late by the same englishman. a small quantity remained in australia, whilst the rest (bar a few pieces) went into auction. before the auction, the pieces were translated. an indirect source told me the translations were done at SOAS but can only speculate this. either way, the pieces sold at auction and dispersed. last year, the remaining australian pieces were sold into auction, and this dagger was part of the sale. i kno wthis information, as i researched it a while ago, when i bought a piece from the same collection, with an almost identical inscription.
attributions to a british museum are rubbish, and any tipu affiliation is purely speculative. we can confirm its palce at mysore, and its attribution to Krishnaraja Wadiyar 3rd. before that is lost in history. (note, the pieces going to englnd first and then australia came from a pretty direct source. another version told was that some went from dehli to england and some from dehli to australia)
an interesting note, that mare rosu bought the piece in england, which meant the dagger went - mysore>dehli>england>australia>england>southern america.
a definately well travelled piece.

9th January 2005, 09:21 PM	#3
B.I Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 485	inscription i've been in touch with mare rosu privately but thought to offer some of the information here as well. this dagger is indeed from the mysore armoury and the inscription is kannada script. i cannot give a precise translation, but this was a series of inscriptions, all almost identical and without a doubt inscribed at the same time. in the early 1990s, a load of them were translated. all held the words 'sri krishna' which refers to Krishnaraja Wadiyar 3rd of mysore. then follows a series of inventory numbers and a short description of the piece (eg hidden dagger, big dagger etc). the pieces in the present mysore armoury show this inscription, as do the pieces that left there just over 10 years ago. the maharaja decided to sell a quantity of weapons from the armoury (i believe they were owned by the state, and not himself). these weapons were transported from mysore to dehli, where they were held by an arms dealer. the collection consisted of around 700 pieces, 300 of which were bought by an english dealer and transported to england. the whole collection was then sold to an australian businessman/collector and then, for some unknown reason, bought back a short while late by the same englishman. a small quantity remained in australia, whilst the rest (bar a few pieces) went into auction. before the auction, the pieces were translated. an indirect source told me the translations were done at SOAS but can only speculate this. either way, the pieces sold at auction and dispersed. last year, the remaining australian pieces were sold into auction, and this dagger was part of the sale. i kno wthis information, as i researched it a while ago, when i bought a piece from the same collection, with an almost identical inscription. attributions to a british museum are rubbish, and any tipu affiliation is purely speculative. we can confirm its palce at mysore, and its attribution to Krishnaraja Wadiyar 3rd. before that is lost in history. (note, the pieces going to englnd first and then australia came from a pretty direct source. another version told was that some went from dehli to england and some from dehli to australia) an interesting note, that mare rosu bought the piece in england, which meant the dagger went - mysore>dehli>england>australia>england>southern america. a definately well travelled piece.