ORNATE DRESS UNIFORM COL.-IN-CHIEF GURKHAS KING OF NEPAL / VICTORIA & EDWARD VII - $4,950 - (Owls Head, ME)

Full ceremonial dress uniform to King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal (1875-1911), Commander-in-Chief of the Nepalese Army, and Gurkha regiments. This has been in my collection since 1985. This complete uniform came with a ceremonial kukri and a Nepalese Order of Knighthood (see other listings). This listing includes: crimson tunic white linen tropical helmet and chinscales yellow and red feather plume double-ended tin to house plume green trousers with wide red stripes tan leather officer's boots gold and crimson sword belt parade sash silver cavalry aiguillettes (which I later added, it is not original to this uniform) The tunic is quite heavy and richly encrusted with floral patterned silver bullion, fit for a king. The heavy gold epaulettes and silver buttons have various motifs including suns, crescent moons, crossed kukris, and buddhas. There are symmetrical holes on the epaulettes which were used for different interchangeable insignia depending on what unit he was inspecting as Colonel-in-Chief. This ensemble is beyond rare, and a one-of-a-kind tunic also needs a one-of-a-kind solar topee with a rising sun & crossed kukris helmet plate--very exotic. There are no labels inside but I presume this was made by a British tailor in Delhi or Calcutta. It is heavily padded inside to support the weight of the bullion and is in fine condition overall. I was told these bullion patterns cannot be made today, and were built up on wooden lasts that were destroyed in the blitz in WW2. When I lived in NYC Ralph Lauren rented this tunic for six months in the early `90s when military fashion was in vogue again, and he used the bullion patterns for patterning on the box collars and cuffs of formal evening wear. The tunic also has thread loops for FIVE grand crosses. Though King Prithvi Bir rarely left Kathmandu, his Prime Minister visited London several times and was probably awarded two grand cross sets for every order conferred on him by Queen Victoria and King Edward, on…

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