A rare relic, being an anti-Zeppelin dart, 8.5 in. steel shaft with four sprung frames at the top with a separate square retaining strip. This deadly dart was designed to be dropped in quantities from an airplane. After leaving a specially-shaped box, four metal frames would spring out and the dart was then meant to penetrate the Zeppelin’s outer fabric as the frames catch on it. The shaft would then release, attached to an unwinding cord. As it did so, it would be ignited by a match-like compound, igniting the airship’s gas. If the gas failed to ignite, this dart contained a backup plan: the cord would burn to a small incendiary charge which would then set fire to the airship’s fabric. Housed in the original box and appears complete and in working order. Housed in the original box bearing a label that reads: ‘Not to be opened until required for use’. Ex: Sotheby’s, 1996.