1899 Military Mess Gimbaled Silver & Horn Cigar Lighter London Sterling Double Gimbaled & BlackBuck Horn Handle Start Price USD 2,499.00 Current Price USD 2,499.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price USD 2,999.00 Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, November 16, 2008 End Time Sunday, November 23, 2008 Location Northern California See more about '1899 Military Mess Gimbaled Silver & Horn Cigar Lighter' Description A Superb and Excessively Rare Museum Quality Military Mess “Grenade” Style Cigar Lighter in Sterling Silver Fully Swiveling Double-Gimbaled Mounts Black Buck Indian Antelope Trophy Horn Handle Huge Over 20 Inches Long Made in Fully Hallmarked Silver in London in 1899 by Noted Silversmith Joseph Braham, and in Excellent Condition This is a superb and excessively rare British Military Mess “Grenade” style Table Centerpiece Cigar Lighter, with fully swiveling sterling silver double-gimbaled mounts, the handle a trophy horn from a Black Buck Indian antelope. This is a very large imposing example, measuring over twenty inches long. The main “Grenade” style lighter is held by two swiveling sterling silver rings with fully gimbaled mounts, as pictured above. The natural horn handle is a trophy from a Black Buck, or Indian antelope. The twisting ringed horn forms a superbly effective handle providing naturally fitted grips for the hand and fingers. This superb piece was made in the English capital city of London in 1899 in a superior gauge of solid silver. It bears full English hallmarks and the maker’s mark of the noted silversmith Joseph Braham who was a pioneer maker of high-class smoking accessories. These Table Cigar Lighters were originally used in British Regimental Military Messes, in a simpler form imitating the grenades of the time of Waterloo. They evolved into a variety of forms, of which this is one of the rarest, with fully gimbaled rings mounts, and the natural horn handle a trophy of the hunt for the antelope known as Black Buck in the Indian sub-continent. AN INTRIGUING CONVERSATION PIECE AND A FINE ADDITION TO A SERIOUS COLLECTION SEE THE PICTURES AND DETAILS BELOW This Military Mess Table Centerpiece Cigar Lighter is of unusually large size, at over twenty inches long (20.5 ins / 52.0 cms) and standing about three and a half inches high (3.5 ins / 9.0 cm). It exhibits top quality workmanship in a substantial gauge of silver and has good heft and superb balance. This lighter is in excellent condition, with none of the usual dents and distortions to which these are prone from their early use by hard-drinking men !!! The screw-in nozzle has some pliers marks, but these are underneath, and not obvious. The screws are excellent, but likely replaced. On close examination, I see some discoloration on the bottom of the grenade, and the hallmarks in this area are much polished, so I would judge this has been expertly restored at some stage in its century plus life. The piece bears a variety of correct English hallmarks on the main support, the inner ring, the screw-in nozzle, and on the top and bottom of the “grenade” burner, made in two halves and then weighted and sealed. The hallmarks are the lion passant guarantee mark for English sterling silver, the leopard’s head town mark for London, and on the bottom a date letter, this much rubbed but apparently the letter “d” for 1899. The maker’s mark is the initials “J.B” in an oval for Joseph Braham of Gerrard Street, Soho, London. See John Culme "The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths Jewellers and Allied Traders 1838-1914, Volume I pages 58 and 59 for a description and history of Joseph Braham and his successor firm, where they are noted as pioneers in the field of high class smoking accessories. How do you use it ??? The body of the lighter is filled with spirit or lamp oil, and the screw-in nozzle holds a wick inside the body. The wick is lit and the lighter burns gently as a table centerpiece. The horn handle and double-gimbals allow this rare example to be passed around the mess table and used to light the gentlemen’s cigars. Similar formal cigar lighters are still used in Britain at traditional military mess and naval wardroom dinners, and in the finest and most elegant of the London gentlemen’s clubs. US: payment by PayPal or personal check plus $20.00 shipping, extra for insurance. International: payment by PayPal or US $ check or sterling £ cheque or direct bank transfer, plus $40.00 / £20.00 normal airmail postage, extra for registered or insured (required). Email me at... emailAberdonian or... CLICK HERE for thumbnail images of my other fine auction items, including fine sterling from Scotland, England and Ireland, occasional marine paintings and naval antiques, and Scottish Provincial silver and jewelry, including Scottish Celtic Revival pieces by Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie of Iona. Place a Bid!