The fine collection of attributed British Officers' Swords formed by Hal Giblin

Lieutenant Charles Austin Pittar, M.C., 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards

1854 pattern Coldstream Guards officer’s sword, blade 83cm of Levée pattern by Henry Wilkinson (No. 52462) etched with GVR cypher, regimental device, battle honours to South Africa 1899-1902 within scrolls and owners initials ‘C.A.P.’ within a cartouche, plated steel guard with regimental device, fish-skin covered grip bound with silver wire, leather covered field service scabbard, blade discoloured, plating of hilt worn £150-200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The fine collection of attributed British Officers' Swords formed by Hal Giblin.

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Sword sold by Wilkinson to C. A. Pittar, 1917.

Charles Austin Pittar, son of C. W. E. Pittar of Oxford, was educated at Eton, where he excelled at athletics and was an accomplished scholar. He was an exhibitor to Queen’s College, Oxford and, in 1916, became King’s Scholar, but abandoned his career to take up a commission in the Coldstream Guards. He served on the Western Front, and was awarded the M.C. (London Gazette 7 November 1918) ‘For conspicuous gallantry and initiative while on daylight patrol. He left his lines in broad daylight, accompanied only by his orderly, and scouted right up through the enemy outpost line, a distance of some 700 yards. He showed great daring and enterprise and the information he brought back was of the utmost importance. After leaving the army in 1919, he joined the Indian civil service and died on 28 August 1921.