[B.I]

the sword of ranjit singh from the wallace collection. i lifted this information from a website -

'This magnificent sword or ‘shamshir’ is one of the greatest Sikh treasures in Britain. It was acquired in Paris at some time prior to 1865 by Lord Hertford, the father of Sir Richard Wallace, founder of the Wallace Collection. He exhibited it in Paris at the ‘Musée Rétrospectif’ exhibition in that year, describing it as having belonged to ‘Runjet Sing’… an attribution that has never been doubted. It is a particularly fine and rare example of its type, the mounts being of solid gold rather than gold-damascened iron as was more usually the case with such weapons; only the most important and prestigious of swords were as richly mounted as this. The condition throughout is truly wonderful; the sword even retains its original scabbard, carrying belt and straps, all similarly mounted in pure gold. The grip is carved from exotic and highly-prized walrus ivory, probably imported at vast cost from northern Europe, while the blade is of ‘watered’ steel, a cast-crystalline crucible steel highly prized for its ‘watered’ pattern, still clearly discernable on the blade’s surface.'

an interesting point to note, this sword is item 1404 in the catalogue of 1916. laking was thorough in his appraisal, using all the accession notes (what very little there was seeing as the mojority of the pieces came from a handful of parisian auctions), his own scant knowledge of oriental arms and an apparant expert from bombay. i've tried finding more info on this 'expert' but there isnt much, although i have one more good avenue to look into. from what i gather, his 'expertise' was in the languages and terminology. this is, of course, up for debate as there are many mistakes within the catalogue. as i said, besides the mistakes, laking was thorough in including all the information he had at the time. so, why was ranjit singh never mentioned in the catalogue, which described the sword as an abbasi shamshir. another point of note. in the catalogue it describes the blade as having the 'finest qara khorassan watering'. i have no interest in terminology, nor in the many names of watering. as a collector, i know the ones that reflect the price and this is the only thing that interests me. and so, the blade holds a good strong, darkened pattern, but it is colloquelly known as 'sham' watering and this is of the lowest (commercially and finantially) grade. whether anyone would agree on the term 'sham' for this type of watering is by the by. my point is that collectively, in this day and age it would not be considered too highly (in comparison to other more striking patterns). its strange how tastes and opinions change. either way, the blade is of no consequence as the solid gold mounts and a ranjit singh association is enough to bolster the esteem of this sword were it in auction.
i've no interest in sikh pieces, as they normally are relatively late but may try and find more info on this as it would be good to know when and why the ranjit singh name was attached. although widely published, not much more info has been offered on this sword, unless anyone knows differently. hertfords knowledge and interest in oriental arms was surprisingly passing and more in the line of victorian orientalism, or 'something to hang in the billiards room'. so, if he did offer the ranjit singh attribution (which i kind of doubt due to its ommision in the catalogue) he must have had the information from the sale catalogue. i've seen many of the oriental catalogues that he owned and saw nothing of note. they are not much use as they mostly describe not much more than 'a persian sword'. an interesting point, is that when lady wallace donated the collection to the nation, she sold of his library which included the original sale catalogues. these were brought back (supposedly complete) some 30 years later from a well known aniquarian bookseller in london. there is scant handwritten notes as although hertford bought from auction, in many cases he used 'buyers' like spitzer to do the bidding for him.