EnglandLadies sports bow from England, Europe. Owned by Jane Osman. Given to the Museum in 1992.

This is a Princess Marksman, a recurved women's sporting bow with a nylon string for target shooting. It was manufactured sometime between 1980 and 1985 by Les Howis Bows Ltd., a Nottinghamshire firm (no longer trading).

It is essentially a modern Western variant of the sinew-backed bow principle, where two staves of different materials are joined together longitudinally - one suited to tensile elasticity and the other suited to compression. The body is wood with a fibre-glass back for added elasticity (fibre-glass has been replaced by carbon fibre in even more recent compound bows). It has the 'reflex-deflex' form of the famous sinew-backed Asiatic bow, and has the added benefit of an ergonomic pistol grip. As is the case with bow-using cultures worldwide, this bow demonstrates the state of modern target archery in West, where the bowyer combines the best materials available with the most advanced design.