Tipu Sultan Sale
 

thought i would post some images from the recent tipu sale.
for those unaware, robin wiggingtons collection recently came into auction and was sold through a london room.
robin died a couple of years ago and his death was a real loss to all collectors. he had imacculate taste and a real knowledge and enthusiasm. as well as dealing to a very high standard, he also had a personal 'obsession' with tipu artifacts, especially firearms which he collected over the span of 40 years and wrote a book on the arms he ammassed.
his collection of tipu arms was the largest in the world and this sale was the first time the collection was on show as a whole. most of the pieces were displayed when he converted part of his shop into a museum, open to the public.
the quality of the pieces were untouched, and many came from the seige, through both museums and family collections.

more images

Great stuff. Thanks for posting these.

NUTS! And I missed out on the sale. ;)

Beautiful pictures as usual B.I. It is especially nice to see pieces of fabric armour in such good condition, as they are so rare. It's sad that such a wonderful and historic collection has been broken up and may never be available to the public again.

Brian

Were prices astronomical? Anything sneak through to the average collector?

hi rick,
unfortunately no. the pieces that were estimated high, and of great importance went for around, if not slightly over the estimates.
the lower end pieces went for ridiculous money.
as always, politics were involved and there was a reason which i'll happily tell later (breakfast calls).
aqtai, the fabric armour was stunning, and the quiver/amrmguards were absolutely wonderful. also, there is more to tell about this set, that the auction house, nor the buyers knew (some information i stumbled across a few years back). it fetched a good price, as the set was of such high quality.
the majority of the collection were long guns, all inscribed with tipu connections and all fetched good money.
the total price of the collection was around £1.2million

Hi Brian,

Thanks for showing these pictures from the sale, the weapons are, like you note, of a quality seldom seen. Good to see that there are still some around in private collections, although they are seldom seen, and Robin Wigginton’s collection would have been close to unknown, had he not opened a museum.

I am not collecting canons, but these two are fantastic. Had it not been be course my wife does not approve of firing canons indoor, I could have been tempted. They could have been used to fire a salute when a dear friend visited.

Firing cannons indoors is indeed risky business. The parrot flies from room to room shrieking in terror,the fierce dog cowers under the bed, and the wife's remark can not be repeated on a family forum!
But if your travels ever bring you to Texas, I'll happily salute your arrival from the front porch. :)





t

a couple of years ago, the baird family decided to sell of a very important sword into a london auction. the sword was presented to general baird, after being taken from tipus bedchamber on the night of the seige. as, by the very nature of his death, it was impoosible to say which were his swords and which were that fo his bodyguard, the bedchamber sword bacame unique, as tipu was well known to have had a sword from his armoury brought to his bedchamber every day.
the sword sold for £180,000 to an anonomous telephone bidder.
a few months later, an extremely rich mysore politician announced that he had bought the sword and returned it to mysore, its rightful home. this announcement was 10 days before he was running for election.
due to the indian presence at the presale gathering, it was spreculated that the same businessman/politician bought the majority of the collection (by phone to hide his identity) which makes sence, as the buyer was unaware of arms, from a collector/dealer point of view. some pieces had no true tipu connection, but was bought for a high price. i think the 'tipu sale' provenance replaced the lacking 'tipu' provenance on some pieces.
it is believed there will one day be a museum of sorts, but i know the purschase of these pieces has nothing to do with giving them back to the people.
aqtai, the fabric armour was of the highest quality and condition. the quiver and armguards especially were absolutely stunning. these were of pure mysore design, but the only connection with tipu that the description offered, were the presence of the distinct bubri motif which adorned both pieces. the auction house did not contact the estate for any provenance, as the collection was bought privately fisrt, then put straight into auction. if wiggington did leave any records, it was not known and this information is now irrelevant due to the collection being broken up.
however, a few years back i stumbled across a list of arms in the united services museum in london. this museum still exists, although it sold off all the arms in the 60s. the list i found was compiled in the 1900s and the cllection was donated from military men and their families. in this list was a quiver and arrows, taken from tipu after the seige. ok, speculation or coincidence, except it is known amongst a few, that wiggington attended this sale in the 60s and bought the tipu items.
still a little loose, but i would guess these pieces had a closer link to tipu than the mere existance of the motifs.
jens, i would take berkleys advice, and keep all cannon outside the house. but, make sure you inform the postman as you may find an absence of mail and visitors in general.

Thanks for the offer about the slaute, that would be great. I do however think that Anitas geatetest optioption is the smoke from the blach powder, in the sitting room - and although we have not tried it, I am afraid the I can follow her :p.