ADAM'S Country House Collections Day II - 14th October 2025

76 603 AN EXTREMELY RARE AND IMPORTANT OFFICER’S 300-GUINEA PRESENTATION DRESS SMALL-SWORD OF STIRRUP-HILT FORM, FINELY ENAMELLED AND SET WITH DIAMONDS, IN 18 CARAT GOLD WITH LONDON HALLMARKS FOR 1800–01, BY JOHN RAY AND JAMES MONTAGUE, COMMISSIONED FROM AND SIGNED BY CUTLERS GREEN & WARD, LONDON, PRESENTED BY THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BARRY CLOSE (LATER MAJOR-GENERAL SIR BARRY CLOSE, BT., 1756–1813) * NO INTERNET BIDDING FOR THIS LOT The faceted ovoid pommel cast with laurel sprays and surmounted by a rose-cut diamond, inset with blue enam- el roundels over an engine-turned ground, bearing to one side the initials “BC” below a demi-lion vert holding a hal- berd, and to the other a trophy of arms, each bordered with twenty-three old cushion-shaped diamonds. The grip of tapering ovoid form, cast and chased in relief with martial trophies of arms including a crested helmet, flags, drums and cannon barrels, the surfaces enriched with stippled and dotted grounds and framed by laurel sprays in high relief. Inset on either side with an oval enamelled armorial plaque reserved against translucent blue enamel over an engine-turned ground, each bor- dered with thirty old-cut cushion-shaped diamonds. One plaque depicting the arms of Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Close — a chevron between three hunting horns with stars in chief and base, surmounted by a demi-lion crest vert grasping a halberd, and with the motto Fortis et Fidel- is (“Brave and Faithful”) beneath; the reverse depicting the arms of the Honourable East India Company, supported by lions and accompanied by the East India Company’s motto Auspicio Angliæ Regis et Senatus (“Under the aus- pices of the King and Senate of England”). The straight cross-guard, with scrolling terminals and twin side-rings, inset on either side with an enamelled floral lozenge on a blue enamel engine-turned ground, each set with forty rose-cut and single-cut diamonds. The knuckle-guard, a single arched bar of stirrup form, ris- ing from the quillon block and curving in a smooth sweep to meet the pommel, chased in relief with cannon and standards, enamelled with cartouches on a translucent blue enamel engine-turned ground, set with diamonds spelling “Seringapatam” (approximately fifty-five rose-cut diamonds) to one side and “May 4 1799” (approximately forty-three rose-cut diamonds) to the other. After Henry Singleton, ‘The Surrender of Two Sons of Tippoo Sultaun’ [sic]. Published London 1802 by Cardon