2.12 Sword with Tiger Head Pommel

©Collection Robin Wigington Sword With Tiger Head Pommel; c.1782-90 Pommel: gold, cast, chased and engraved and inlaid with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. Body of the hilt: silver, cast, chased and engraved, with tiger-claw quillons, all gilded, inlaid with diamonds, rubies and emeralds, with a garnet on each side of the quillon block Blade: steel, from Tipu's armoury Seringapatam. Sword 80.12 x 10.2 cm; Pommel: 4 x 4.5 x 4 cm

number of Tipu objects were re-mounted by their new owners after the fall of Seringapatam, including the great central tiger head from Tipu's throne. The pommel of this sword was almost certainly part of Tipu's throne regalia - probably the head of a sceptre or rod of office. On another re-worked Tipu sword, the watered-steel damascus blade is decorated with bubris, formed in the steel. An inscription has subsequently been inlaid over them: 'No me saques sin razon, no me embaines sin honor' (Draw me not without reason. Sheath me not without honour). This motto is typical of many European sword-blades of the second half of the 18 century.