[Damien]

For all of you Australian Lee Enfield tragics who also collect forearms of the opposition, I managed to pick this up in Roly's auction very late in the proceedings. Being advertised as being in 8 x 57 did not help enhance the price, but it is untouched since the end of WW1, so is still in 7.65x53 I'll wager. My pre auction bid of $450 was unbelievably unchallenged and it went through to the keeper (me).

"TURKISH 98 MAUSER B/A SERVICE RIFLE: 7.92x57 Cal; 5 shot mag; 29.5"" barrel; p. bore; standard sights & fittings; breech marked TOUGHRA OF SULTAN ABDUL-HAMID 11, who ruled from 1876-1909, plus Arabic-Turkish script; slight wear to profiles, clear breech markings; dark brown finish to barrel, receiver & fittings; g. stock with minor bruising & Arsenal repair to the forend & the muzzle; all complete with leather sling; gwo & cond. #1030 bolt matches L/R"

Otherwise, some eye watering prices like a Colt 1911A1 in .45ACP that went for $19,000 hammer price + commission. Yikes. Many of the Lees went mental as well.

Going through the prices realised would be very entertaining.

 

[Doc Martini]

Not Lee Enfields... but there were about 13 Alexander-Henry rifles in the auction today, courtesy of the estate of Ron Cook. Usually you'd be lucky to see 1 or 2.
I managed to pick up 2 of them, very happy.
I had a look at the Lee Enfield snipers on offer, but crazy prices there. I think the Lithgow low-mount one went for about AUD$16,000 + 18% commission.

 

[Damien]

Yes Doc, I got two of the Alex Henrys too, along with two of his Martini Henrys.

I was aiming to complete my NSW Naval Brigade collection, so got one of the three NSW NB Alex Henrys available, and one Martini Henry. I was happy to get one without getting too concerned about whether it was long or short knox form, etc.

The other Martini was for the NSW Naval Artillery Volunteers (NAV), and the other Alex Henry was a standard infantry marked rifle - which I will probably put on used guns soon. I think the high number of Alex Henrys hitting the market at the same time resulted in some soft prices for them, but Ron's collection will only ever come up once. I guess that is why they were so rare...Ron had most of them.

The NSW NAV Martini was especially good to get, as this will go with the NSW NAV 1.5 inch Nordenfelt gun No.4098 that defended the casemate at Obelisk Bay in Sydney Harbour.

There were also a few good Boxer Rebellion souvenirs, but all were too rich for me - the most interesting was the 1882 Model Chinese contract Remington Lee at about $3400 + commission.

Seeing a low mount sniper go for more than the No.6 carbines is bonkers, but there you go....

 

[Aussie Anthony]

Damien, hope the Turk turns out as you hoped. Sounds like a bargain. I took a few photos for you on Friday. You probably already have plenty of this one, but I’ll post anyway. Regards Anthony

 

[staffy]

Thx for posting - Great to see they have lifted it off the ground and has a concrete plinth, but it could do with overhead cover.

 

[Damien]

Beautiful, thanks Anthony! Some nice detail I have not seen before. Every time I have been through that town, I have been going to or from Roma at night with only a crappy disposable camera. Interesting setup for the back of the recoil cylinder, probably to allow barrel removal without completely stripping out the buffer tube.

Concur with you staffy, it needs to be under cover. It has new wheels, so I'm told, but they will rot like the last ones if they are not protected.

Some pics of the NSWNAV 1.5in Nordenfelt that the new Martini Henry goes with.

I got No.4098 many years ago. I expected to find a record of it in the 1901 census of land forces artillery in Australia, but was not listed. It remained a mystery for over 15 years until a friend found a document transferring the NSW Naval Brigade guns and torpedoes to the Commonwealth in 1906. Turns out it was one of 20 procured by Colonial NSW and Queensland in 1893. The four in Queensland went onto the Paluma and Gyundah gunboats, 12 went to NSW garrison artillery in Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong, and the last four went to the NSW Naval Brigade for their Middle Head casemate. There was a sub group within the NSW naval forces of well heeled gentlemen under the NSW Naval Artillery Volunteers banner.

 

[Aussie Anthony]

This one was on the way also, no details but I’m sure you’ll know of it. A lot larger piece.

 

[Damien]

Yes Anthony, that's a nice original Austrian WW1 Skoda M14 10cm Howitzer at Oakey. I last saw this one in 1997 when it was painted green. As it does not appear to be marked to Skodawerke, it may have been made at the Artillery Factory in Vienna. There is a similar one in the AWM collection, and the only other one I know of is one I picked up a long time ago. This was one of the guns ceded by the Austrians to the Italians after WW1. They were upgraded for high speed towing by replacing the wooden spoked wheels with steel wheels with Pirelli solid rubber tyres. It was captured by the allies in Tobruk and was used by the 2/12 Australian Field Artillery Regiment against its former owners and the Afrika Korps. It was maintenance intensive, but they liked its effectiveness better than the 25 Pounder (believe it or not) due to the heavier weight of shell. Compared with WW1, very few captured guns were sent to Australia during and after WW2.

 

[Aussie Anthony]

Wow, so much history to enjoy. Well done. I remember it being green when I was a kid, had a photo somewhere of me sitting on it in the late 1980’s. I’d forgotten about it so called in to find it and show my boys. Trying to spark their interest in history.

 

[HarryB]

Damien, you probably know about this one too but I thought I'd post it for any one else who might be interested.
Beaconsfield Tasmania. Cheers HarryB

 

[chester]

I remember small towns that had machine guns in parks and out the front of RSL clubs too, bet they have been fully welded up or gone to scrap by now.

 

[HarryB]

Yeah mostly just memories now. Our local park where I grew up had a four barreled Nordenfelt.

 

[Damien]

Yes Harry, this is a really nice example - very complete and almost no rust. You don't get any better than this in the wild. I have been past this one a couple of times when I was working in Beauty Point and Launceston for a few weeks.

4 Barrel Nordenfelt - yikes - I hope it is still there or someone saved it. There was a park with a 1.5inch Nordenfelt too somewhere near Brisbane. Not to mention the one in Maryborough next to the 2 barrel 1inch Nordenfelt.