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M0082
Swords: M0082
Title
Edmund Kean's stage dagger
Technique
Mixed media
Subject
Character
Richard III : Richard III
Dimensions
Height: 36cm
Width: 7.9cm
Depth: 3cm
Width: 7.9cm
Depth: 3cm
Other materials
Handle and scabbard set with pink, green and white glass stones
Provenance
Given by Esme Percy to Peter Bartlett; by whom presented to the Garrick Club, 1993
Other number
Gift 955
When Peter Bartlett presented the dagger to the Garrick Club he provided the following information:
"The dagger was given to Esme Percy when he was a very young actor. The donor is not known but it is likely to have been Herbert Beerbohm Tree when Esme Percy was acting for him in 'Nero' at His Majesty's Theatre.
When in turn I was a young actor Esme Percy directed me in a play and promised that one day he would hand the dagger to me. Eventually he gave it to me in 1957 a few weeks before his death.
When I worked with Sir John Gielgud on some film commentaries in 1971 I showed him the dagger. As a lifelong friend of Esme Percy he knew it well and acknowledged that it was indeed the one used by Edmund Kean."
"The dagger was given to Esme Percy when he was a very young actor. The donor is not known but it is likely to have been Herbert Beerbohm Tree when Esme Percy was acting for him in 'Nero' at His Majesty's Theatre.
When in turn I was a young actor Esme Percy directed me in a play and promised that one day he would hand the dagger to me. Eventually he gave it to me in 1957 a few weeks before his death.
When I worked with Sir John Gielgud on some film commentaries in 1971 I showed him the dagger. As a lifelong friend of Esme Percy he knew it well and acknowledged that it was indeed the one used by Edmund Kean."
