...with a full account of how they had been taken from a French frigate captured in 1800 by Captain John Hamilton during the voyage of the Bombay Castle to China.
The guns, with 3ft (91cm) barrels mounted on decaying timber carriages, were, naturally, targets for members of the Hamilton family whose early fortune had been hugely enhanced by the prize money won by Captain Hamilton. However, the guns were captured by the English trade - a dealer who bid a five-times-estimate £25,000.
The guns needed a deal of work to bring them back to fighting trim but Mr Pryke believes there is time for this to be done before the major London summer fairs.
Also going to England, this time to a private militaria enthusiast, was the tailed red and yellow broadcloth jacket, below right, worn by a mid-19th century Hamilton for his duties with the 3rd Ayrshire Yeomanry Local Militia. Estimated at just £250-350, it was in pristine condition and sold at £4000. Another piece of Hamilton finery to go way over hopes was an Ayreshire Hunt jacket of scarlet broadcloth plus waistcoat and five pairs of whitened buckskin breeches. Estimated at up to £1000, the lot sold at £2400.
It was difficult to see quite which market would go after an ornate, decorative 5ft (1.52m) longbow made for John Hamilton to take part in the 1839 Eglington Tournament - an incredibly lavish medieval tourney staged by the Earl of Eglington at his Ayrshire home. He laid out £40,000 on the affair, apparently as a response to what the disappointed earl considered the "penny coronation" of Victoria.
With the bow was an ornate lacquered quiver and 18 arrows painted with the Hamilton crest and motto. Interest from the Hamilton family was to be expected, but they were beaten to the bow by a dealer, buying for his own collection, who doubled the top estimate with a bid of £6000.
