An Officer's sword of the 4th Bombay Rifles with battle honours for Seringapatam by Silver & Co...

An Officer's sword of the 4th Bombay Rifles with battle honours for Seringapatam by Silver & Co., Cornhill, London, 19th Century the pipe backed blade with spear point, etched to one side with crowned bugle, laurel sprays, crossed lances and battle honours for Seringapatam and Beni Boo Alli, to the other with crowned bugle, laurel sprays, regimental title and maker's panel for Silver & Co., regulation pierced steel gothic hilt incorporating crowned bugle, wire-bound fish skin grips, the steel scabbard with two suspension loops 95 cm. long Footnotes: The 4th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry, or Rifle Corps, had its origins in Rajput forces recruited by the East India Company. The unit participated at the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799; the Beni Boo Ali campaign in 1821 against the pirates of Eastern Arabia and the Persian Gulf; at the Siege of Multan during the 2nd Sikh War (1848-1849); the Persian War (1856-1857) and remained loyal to the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It became a rifle regiment in the 1880s and was renamed the 104th Wellesley Rifles in 1903 and went on to serve in Mesopotamia during World War I. A watercolour of a soldier holding a similar sword entitled 4th Bombay Rifles by Alfred Crowdy Lovett and dated to circa 1885 is in the National Army Museum, London (NAM. 1982-04-53-1). For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing