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French Silver from the Battle of Vittoria,

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 700.00 USD
French Silver from the Battle of Vittoria,
ca 1813. Two French silver scalloped rim deep plates taken as spoils of war following the Battle of Vittoria. Engraved within a cartouche Taken by the 6th or Bragan & A Regt of Portuguese Cavalry/Commanded by Lt. Colonel Diggens in the ever/memorable Battle of Vittoria on the 21st of June 1813. Various impressed marks; 9.75" diameter x 1.25" high. 27.328 ozt.

Condition: The decisive battle of Vittoria fought during the Peninsula War is notable for the amount of captured French booty. Wellington's allied army consisting of British (52,000), Portuguese (28,000) and Spanish troops (25,000) defeated a French army (about 60,000) under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshall Jean-Baptiste Jourdan on July 21, 1813, paving the way for Wellington's ultimate (and much celebrated) victory on the Peninsula. Each side lost about 5,000 men with the surviving French retreating from the field in good order after a strong rear-guard action.

The heady allied army was spent from marching and the subsequent fight. Disipline collapsed and the soldiers began to plunder the abandoned Fench camps containing "the loot of a Kingdom." Historical sources estimate that over one million pounds of booty (perhaps 100 million pounds in modern equivalence) was seized, but the gross abandonment of disipline caused an enraged Wellington to pen his (in)famous disparaging remark about the English soldier: "We have in the service the scum of the earth as common soldiers."

The Armory Museum (Museo de Armeria) in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain contains a large collection of French booty captured by Wellington's army. Cowan's gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Allen Cebula in the preparation of this catalog entry.

Tarnish and wear.

Provenance: