Our online collection catalogue has more than 180,000 records and over 20,000 images. We’ve made a list of some of the most interesting objects in our collection. What do you think, do you agree? Let us know what your favourite objects are.
- Great helm used as funerary achievement, English, 14th century
- Tympanum sculpture from the Grand Storehouse at the Tower of London, carved by John Young, 1691
- Great Bronze Gun or Dardenelles gun of Sultan Memhet II, Turkish, 1464
- Lion armour possibly of King Henri II of France, Italian, 1550
- Foot combat armour of Christian I, Elector of Saxony, German, 1591
- Harquebusier armour of Colonel Alexander Popham, English, 17th century
- Powder flask for the Goldsmith’s Company of London, English, 1571-1599
18-pounder Field Gun and Limber, British, 1918
- Helmet (harikake kabuto), Japanese, late-17th century
- The Tiffany Revolver, Centrefire six-shot revolver, USA, 1989
- Horse armour or bargustawan from the period of the Mughal Empire. Northern India, 17th-18th century
- Hunting hanger and scabbard by Froment-Meurice, the hilt by Jules Wiese, French, 1830-1870
- Quoit turban, dastar bungga or ‘Fortress turban’. Indian, Punjab (probably Lahore), late 18th century – early 19th century
- Flintlock sporting gun by William Simpson of York, English, 1738
- Mortuary sword reputed to have been used by Oliver Cromwell during the Siege of Drogheda in 1649, English, 1631-1670
- Decorative Burgonet, German, 1600
- Turban helmet or migfer, Turkish, 1471-1499
- Dagger axe or ge and scabbard, Chinese, Warring States period, 475-221 BC
- Hunting Spear, French or possibly Italian, early 17th century
- Flintlock breech-loading magazine gun with Lorenzoni type action by John Cookson, English, 1690
- Rennzeug Jousting Armour, German, late 15th Century
- Partizan, French, for the Gardes du Corps of Louis XIV, French, about 1680-90
- Mallet’s Mortar, Iron 36-inch mortar, British, 1857
- Dagger (khanjar), Indian, Mughal, late 17th century
- M-41A pulse rifle, 22nd century (1986)
- 15th century German High Gothic armour for a man and horse armour
- Soviet AK assault rifle captured during the Vietnam War
- Rare 17th century Italian ‘assassin’s’ crossbow
- 18th century Indian bronze mortar in the form of a tiger, possibly created for Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore.
- 20th century British ‘Sealed’ Pattern 1908 Mk1* Cavalry Trooper’s sword
- 17th century German flintlock sporting gun by Jean Conrad Tornier
- 16th century Japanese armour (mogami haramaki gusoku)
- Mughal period elephant armour (bargustavan-i-pil) and tusk swords, Indian, 17th-18th century
- ‘Viking’ period child’s sword, Northern Europe, late-9th to early-11th century
- 19th century Armstrong 7-inch rifled breech-loading gun
- German jousting saddle for the Hohenzeuggestech from about 1400
- German 16th/17th century rapier designed to extend in length
- Late-15th century Mamluk handgun
- 16th century light field Armour of Sir John Smythe
- 18th century 4-pounder Carron Swivel gun and 68-pounder Carronade
- Henry VIIIs 1540 armour for field and tournament
- 16th century Japanese armour presented to King James I by the Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada in
- 1613, via Captain Saris of the East India Company
- A section of Gerald Bull’s “Iraqi supergun” created for Project Babylon
- 16th century embossed buffe by Filippo Negroli and brothers
- Stave of a Tudor longbow, from the Mary Rose
- 15th/16th century Italian ear dagger
- 17th century armour for a boy, probably Henry Prince of Wales
- 20th century whaling or harpoon gun
- 17th century Edo period Japanese dagger with a European, Solingen blade
- Armour of James II of England and VII of Scotland
- 17th century mother of pearl sporting crossbow
- 17th century presentation Flintlock Sporting Gun, by Henry Crisp for George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth
- 18th century Burmese cannon in the form of a dragon’s head
- 16th century European Boar Sword
- Ewart Grogan’s 4-bore double rifle by Holland & Holland
- A ‘Tommy gun’ smuggled to Ireland
- 15th century sallet attributed to Domenico dei Barini detto Negroli
- The ‘Horned Helmet’ of King Henry VIII
- 18th century fencing manual by Domenico Angelo
- Sword and scabbard presented to Vice Admiral Collingwood for his role at the battle of Trafalgar
Pair of pistols belonging to Captain Robert Fitroy of HMS Beagle of Charles Darwin fame XII.1387 and XII.1388
- A near contemporary painting of the battle of Pavia, showing one of the earliest defeats of armoured cavalry by infantrymen armed with firearms
- Golden armour of Charles I
- European Medieval sword with Arabic inscription
- Two scythes blades, fitted to hafts by the Duke of Monmouth’s rebels, captured at the battle of Sedgemoor, 1685 VII.960 and VII.961
- Pair of muzzle-loading double-barrelled flintlock pistols by Ezekiel Baker for the Prince Regent, later George IV
- Matchlock breech-loading gun of Henry VIII
- German 15th-century painted sallet
- Yuan Dynasty (13th–14th century) helmet or zhou
- Pocket set of tools made for the Medici family
- Henry VIII’s Tonlet armour
- Colonel Burne’s presentation sabre
- Duke of Wellington’s telescope
- Heavy Cavalry sword of Sgt Shaw’s who was killed at the battle of Waterloo
- The “forget-me-not” gun
- Horse armour of King Henry VIII, known as the “Burgundian bard”
- Henry VIII’s silvered and engraved armour
- 14th/15th century early hand gun known as the “Danzig handgun”
- Late-14th century bascinet with ‘houndskull’ visor and aventail, known as the “Lyle bascinet”
- Greenwich field armour and horse armour of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
- Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk’s Lance
- 15th- or 16th-century Grosse Messer
- Portrait of Robert Radclife, Earl of Sussex “the white knight”
- Tudor basket-hilted sword and Welsh buckler
- Henry VIII’s foot combat armour
- Mamluk-Ottoman sword or kilic
- Flintlock muzzle-loading sporting gun by Bertrand Piraube
- The “Furies gun”
- Greek Antique armour
- FN Baby Browning
- Flintlock muzzleloading gun by Nicholas Noel Boutet
- A rare Scottish flintlock long gun by James Low and a ‘Fish-tail’ butt pistol by Alison
- Self-rotating ‘snaphaunce’ six-shot revolver possibly by John Dafte
- A pair of exquisite flintlock pistols probably for King William III by Pierre Monlong
- Mons Meg
- Painting of Louis XIII of France
- A Ming dynasty Tibetan sword
- King Louis XV’s boyhood flintlock gun by Johann Sebastian Hauschka
- Flintlock sporting gun by William Mills
- The Tula Garniture of Empress Elizabeth of Russia
- An experimental Maxim machine gun
- Armour and helmet from Tipu Sultan’s armoury
- A prize-winning exhibition gun by LePage-Moutier
- The ‘Warwick’ shaffron
- The ‘writhen hilt’ sword
- Roman “Pompeii” gladius
- The Tower Fechtbuch I.33
- The ‘Millennium’ gun
- The ‘dragon’ saddle
- Winged gilded lion of the Evangelist St.Mark
- A presentation pair of Colt model 1861 Navy revolvers to Mark Firth Esq. of Thomas Firth and Sons, Steelmakers, Sheffield
- Quoit turban, dastar bungga or ‘Fortress turban’
- The golden armour of King Charles I of England
