Auction Highlights
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Large Egyptian Resting Sacred Ibis
Sold for (Inc. bp): £25,000
A large figurine of a sacred ibis with lidded hollow wooden body, carved integral folded wings to the sides, hollowed and secured with dowels; bronze fittings comprising a head and neck with long curved beak, socket eyes to accept inserts, two legs with texture detailing, three splayed claws, a tail with herringbone feather texturing; mounted on a wooden stand. -
Egyptian Neferhotep Statuette
Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,750
A bronze figure of Neferhotep advancing on a rectangular base, holding Uas sceptre bearing the head of the animal of the god Seth in the left hand, right arm held rigid by the side with clenched fist, pleated kilt to the loins, ribbed collar; the head with arrayed hanks of hair, false beard, lentoid wire rims to the eyes (to accept glass or other inserts?), Pschent crown with uraeus above the brow; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Egyptian Limestone Hieroglyphic Plaque
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,500
A rectangular limestone plaque with three vertical lines of hieroglyphic text, a segmented border to the right, the owner’s name appears in the first full column on the left, followed by the determinative of a seated man to indicate that it is a male name. -
Scythian Gold Stag Shield Ornament
Sold for (Inc. bp): £27,500
An exceptional gold ornament representing a galloping stag, legs folded under the body, the erect head is surmounted by voluminous antlers in volutes adjoining the animal's hindquarters, two of the antlers extend forward in an S-shape, the rest unfolding in sinuous waves, the shoulder and the rump are rounded and the surface of the body is carved in a three-dimensional way, the round eye was probably jewel-encrusted originally, one fastener for fixing remains to the rear. -
Scythian Gold 'Arm Ring' with Wolf Terminals
Sold for (Inc. bp): £45,000
A substantial coiled gold 'arm ring' with terminals formed as stylised wolves, each with spiral hips and shoulders, oversized jaws, large pellet eyes; hollow to the underside. -
Roman Gold Ring with Gemstones
Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,313
A gold ring worked from a single piece of gold, the hoop comprising oval plaques set with garnet and sapphire cabochons, interspersed with delicate gold bars. -
Large Roman Gold Brooch with Apollo Gemstone
Sold for (Inc. bp): £10,000
A hollow-formed gold oval plate brooch with braided filigree border, concentric bands of bosses and applied filigree guilloche, beaded wire collar with applied granules; central dome with cell, inset truncated oval sardonyx cabochon, intaglio profile bust of Apollo, applied catch and two hoops to the reverse. -
Roman Life-Size Gesturing Statue Arm
Sold for (Inc. bp): £32,500
A hollow-form bronze right arm bent at a right angle at the elbow gesturing away from the absent body, hand held in directing pose, index finger extended, thumb resting on three fingers curled towards the palm; clearly defined fingernails and some detailing to the palm; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Roman Mauritanian Diploma of a Cavalryman with Hitherto Unknown Name of the Governor Lucius Plotius Grypus
Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,750
The majority of an important and seemingly textually unique bronze diploma tablet of a Mauritanian cavalryman under the rule of Trajan (98 - 117 AD), which dates precisely to 20 September AD 104; issued to troops stationed in the province Mauretania Tingitana; the text gives us two new names of consuls to plug a gap in the consular list for that particular year: one is Sextus Subrius Dexter Cornelius Priscus, already known to have been consul around the year 104; his consular colleague’s name was Cn(aeus) [….]ius Paullus Caesonianus and is as yet unidentified and hitherto unknown; the diploma also gives us another first, the name of the governor of the province, Mauretania Tingitana, where the relevant troops were stationed: Lucius Plotius Grypus; he is known (only as Plotius Grypus, his first name was hitherto unknown) from a poem by the Roman poet Statius (Silvae IV.9), dedicated to Grypus when a young man some years earlier, in the early 90s AD, and his career has been the subject of some scholarly debate. -
Western Asiatic Sumerian Bulla Envelope Containing Tokens
Sold for (Inc. bp): £6,250
A sealed spherical clay bulla envelope, containing clay tokens which can be heard rattling inside; impressed zoomorphic designs to the equator, including an ibex and a rampant lion. -
Western Asiatic Jemdet Nasr Pictographic Tablet
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20,000
A pillow-shaped clay tablet of exceptional quality, one side with three panels of administrative pictograms, the other divided into seven panels; accompanied by a copy of a signed handwritten scholarly note by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, stating: '5 Sumerian clay tablets, Pictographic signs, Jemdet Nasr period, c. 3000 B.C. All of administrative content.' -
Western Asiatic Mesopotamian Bull Vessel or Stand Bearer
Sold for (Inc. bp): £45,000
A substantial bronze torch bearer depicting a bull or calf standing with straight legs firmly placed, head drawn back, crescentic horns with transverse ribbing, tail extending to the ground; on its back a standing nude female with arms bent and hands cupping the breasts, dressed and plaited hair; above, a balustered stem with three-arm finial forming a cage support. -
Large Chinese Wei Statue
Sold for (Inc. bp): £35,000
A tall stone statue of Buddha standing on a disc base, with hair in tight curls and ushnisha, left hand in protective stance; slot for a separate right hand; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Merovingian Gold and Garnet Shield Fitting
Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,750
A substantial gold mount possibly from a shield, with beaded wire rim, attachment pins, central rosette of raised cells with meerschaum, turquoise and garnet inlay. -
Viking Silver and Niello Inlaid Axehead with Beasts
Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,125
An iron axehead of Wheeler's Type IV with curved blade and edge, bulbous socket, hammer to the reverse, featuring decorative panels executed in inlaid silver wire (filigree) in the fields with ornamental elements including reserved zoomorphs and geometric shapes; on the face of the butt-spur: a tongue-shaped panel of inlaid silver filigree, three reserved triangles and a piriform upper void forming a saltire; on the bulb of the socket: a large ellipsoid filigree panel with inner reserved saltire and four triangles to the spandrels, each with a notched edge; to the blade: an upper filigree panel with a stylised animal in profile (perhaps an elk) with characteristic curved upper lip, flanking flared ears, two long undulating antlers with reserved ovoids between, looped tendril detailing around the figure's outline; below: a pelta-shaped filigree panel with reserved animal (wolf?) in profile with slender body, 'S' shaped tail, forelegs extended and head reversed facing the raised tail, jaws gaping, annular eye, looped interlace tendrils in the field respecting the edges of the reversed image; the two faces are in mirror-image. -
Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooch with Faces of Odin
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,250
An excessively rare gilt-bronze great square-headed brooch of Hines's Class I comprising a trapezoidal headplate with stamped and chip-carved detailing, broad bow, trefoil footplate with lappets beneath the bow, remains of the ferrous pin to the reverse of the headplate and solder scar where the catchplate was attached. -
James I Period Gold Ring with Diamond
Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,875
A gold ring with D-section band flaring to ornamented and scrolled shoulders supporting a square cell bezel holding a square diamond of early cut. -
Celtic Iron Age Coins - Catuvellauni - Agr - Horse Gold 1/4 Stater
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,250
Obv: corn ear without central stalk with [CA]M to left and CVN to right. Rev: horse rearing right with AGR below. -
Anglo-Saxon Coins - Eadwig - North-Western Mint / Aelfsige - Floral Type C Penny
Sold for (Inc. bp): £6,000
BMC type IV. Obv: small cross with EADPIGEREX legend. Rev: mitre-shaped floral design with rosette below dividing ÆLF - SIGE across fields for the moneyer Ælfsige at a north-western mint. -
World Coins - German States - Brandenburg - Guinea Coast - 1683 - Gold Trade Ducat
Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,125
Berlin mint. Obv: profile bust with L C S below and FRID WILH D G M BR S R I EL legend. Rev: sailing ship with DEO DVCE legend and date.
Pleistocene Era, 40,000-20,000 BP
Lot No. 2990
Sold for (Inc. premium): £38
Fell 1516 AD
Lot No. 2991
Sold for (Inc. premium): £81
Lot No. 2992
Sold for (Inc. premium): £300
Lot No. 2993
Sold for (Inc. premium): £19
Lot No. 2994
Sold for (Inc. premium): £50
Lot No. 2995
Sold for (Inc. premium): £238
Oligocene Period, 45 million years BP
Lot No. 2996
Sold for (Inc. premium): £138
Lot No. 2997
Sold for (Inc. premium): £38
Lot No. 2998
Sold for (Inc. premium): £63
Lot No. 2999
Sold for (Inc. premium): £63
Fell 16 December 2012 AD
Lot No. 3000
Sold for (Inc. premium): £150
Upper Devonian Period, 385-359 million years BP
Lot No. 3001
Sold for (Inc. premium): £275