Auction Highlights
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Egyptian Relief with List of Offerings
Sold for (Inc. bp): £18,200
A section of tomb wall with a central register of eight rectangular panels each containing hieroglyphs naming offerings for the deceased; the top and bottom groups of eight rectangular panels each contain a depiction of a kneeling offering-bearer; all carved in high-relief; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Greek Red-Figure Hydria with Combat Scene Between Amazons and Greek or Trojan Heroes
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
The vessel with integral round-section upward-facing handles, a third, round-section handle placed vertically between shoulder and upper neck to rear; laurel sprigs to the neck with traces of gilding; combat scene with Amazons (and Trojans?) below, armed with short swords and crescent shields, most wearing an exomis leaving the shoulder and one breast uncovered; volute palmettes below both side-handles, a panel of tiered and swirling volutes to the rear, all on a band of egg-moulding, repeated around the rim; possibly Apulian or Campanian; restored. -
Greek Silver Wine Strainer
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Composed of a shallow bowl and broad flange rim, two integral scalloped handles with scrolled flourishes, tapering to a loop handle with swan head terminals each with incised eye and beak detailing; perforated whirl within roundel to interior base; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. -
Eastern Roman Bust of the Daughter of Aqima
Sold for (Inc. bp): £37,700
Modelled in the round with a fragment of stand to the rear; the figure carefully carved to exhibit the delicate facial features and elaborate hairstyle; the palla drawn up over the head and falling over the shoulders to the upper arms; a diadem to the brow with foliage and tendril detailing; elaborate earrings with dangles; necklace of fusiform and tubular beads and a longer one below with piriform plaques; large disc brooch to the left breast with dangles; peplos-style dress draped across the body beneath the palla; left arm bent and hand passing across the body to grasp the hem of the palla with a herringbone bracelet at the wrist; the palla displayed pinned with rosettes to the rear panel; with inscription of thirteen Palmyrene characters above the left shoulder 'NRW' // BRT // 'QM' // ḤBL' meaning 'daughter of Aqima'; traces of red and green pigment; mounted on a custom-made stand by Colin Bowles Ltd. -
Eastern Roman Mosaic Depicting a Bird
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
In a rectangular matrix; cream, olive, pink and other tesserae depicting a bird advancing with head bowed, with banded frame. -
Roman Marble Head of a Germanic Warrior
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
Modelled naturalistically in the round, directing his gaze upwards left, the eyes with sculpted pupils originally decorated with stone insertions, his face framed by voluminous short curls swept up off the forehead, sideburns and a moustache. -
Eastern Roman Mosaic Depicting a Bird
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
In a rectangular matrix; cream, olive, pink and other tesserae depicting a perching bird with rosette above. -
Monumental Byzantine Limestone Chi Rho Roundel
Sold for (Inc. bp): £36,400
Divided into six sections by Christogram letters chi and rho, two of the segments with Greek letters alpha and omega, the other four segments with floral ornaments; a laurel wreath to the edge; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Old Babylonian Clay Cuneiform Tablet, a Letter From a Local Governor in Arrapha to His Colleague in Ešnunna,
Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,450
Written across two principal faces and three side edges, reading: 1-2) Say to Zakur-ahum, thus says Uzazza, your brother. 3) I have read the tablet you sent me. You wrote to me as follows: 4-5)'Five nomadic Suteans plundered the district of Zippat and I sent a troop. 6-7) I drove them back. I prevented them from taking anything. 7-8) So this troop left empty-handed. It is to be feared that they will go to the land of Arrapha and raise havoc, take action!' 11) This is what you wrote to me, and I rejoiced greatly. 12) In your tablet is written:'500 nomadic Suteans'. 13) Now, your servants whom you sent to me told me this: 14) 'A troop of 1,500 men has come. 15) Among them were many men with bows.'16 This is what they told me. Now never 17) have there been archers among the nomad-Suteans. 18) Is it not to be feared that the heavily-equipped 19) part of a foreign army is here itself comprising the nomad-Suteans with their bows? 20) The (result of the) divination I found said: 'Fire will devour the base of the reed.' 21) [...] its ... will not reach me. 22-23) [Now], shall I rejoice over the heavily equipped troop (that is) there? 24) [...]. 25-26) Now investigate this troop. 26-27) Send a full report urgently one way or the other, 28-29) so that I may circulate [a swift messenger] so that 29-30) the whole country may be gathered [in my fortresses] and so that I may take action. 31-33) Moreover, earlier, nomadic Suteans assaulted the palace cowherds one evening and 33-34) carried away all the cows from the palace. They left nothing behind. 35-36) There are none left, including the cows they had been entrusted with that evening. The next day, 37) a rescue troop (sent) by Ašrum, in pursuit of them 38) went as far as the banks of the Euphrates, but 39 returned empty-handed. 39) Another thing, 40) concerning what you wrote to me: 41-42) 'Looters set up a siege instrument- kalbanatum against a fortified farm and killed people. In addition, they carried off ten oxen. 43) And Ašrum went in there. Check that 44 their oxen no longer disappear.' This is what you wrote to me. 45-46) Now, shall I rejoice in this matter, or shall I [not] [...] them [...]. 47-48) Now, is there a plunderer who can plunder on my watch? Now, when I hear (about them) 49-50) and as soon as I send a message, do I not put them on the pal? No doubt 51-52) these people are foreigners, but you consider them to be Arrapha inhabitants! Now, precisely according to what you've written to me, 53-54) I'm going to send a fast messenger to the very interior of Arrapha and carry out a check. ; repaired. -
Uruk Clay Pictographic Tablet Bearing an Economic Text Relating to Farm Produce
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,100
Written over two faces; lentoid cross-section. -
Italic Bronze Triple-Disc Cuirass
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,360
Matched pair of Samnite triangular breast and backplates, a suite of 'triple-disc' type, each with three repoussé panels with carinated rim, flat spandrel above and curved on the lower sides, with perforated edges to affix to a separate mail garment; rivetted loops to the shoulders for attachment of supporting straps, and similar lateral loops with portion of round-link chain in situ; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Roman Bronze Legionary Helmet with Inscription
Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,100
Montefortino helmet with bulbous domed skull and a plain crest knob with flattened top; plain and flat neck guard with thickened rim; the front with punched Latin inscription 'A N CFN'; the surface largely covered in marine encrustations; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. -
Exceptional Neolithic Flint Dagger
Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,980
Finely knapped lentoid-section dagger with lateral recesses and square butt; old collector's label '281'. -
Massive Stone Age British Bifacial Lanceolate Flint Handaxe
Sold for (Inc. bp): £10,400
Long blade with small portion of cortex at the upper end, sharply tapering point with edges worked from both sides. -
Viking Age or Earlier Hacked Gold Trade Ingot
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
A slightly bent irregular bar of hacked gold with rectangular cross-section, showing evidence of compression and fracture to each end, some subtle transverse lines on both of the main surfaces. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Three-Dimensional Urnes Stirrup Apex Mount
Sold for (Inc. bp): £6,500
The substantial heater-shaped plaque with spectacular openwork Urnes style design, the standing beast with entwined tendrils, pronounced head at the apex, narrow ledge to the reverse and rivet holes to each corner with two rivets remaining. -
Medieval Glass Beaker with Prunts
Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,800
Of tubular form with flared rim and applied collar to the foot, applied trails to the sidewall and four rows of prunts with applied blue-glass ornament. -
Medieval Gold Ring Set with Gemstones
Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,160
With a slender D-section hoop, bevelled rectangular cell set with a garnet cabochon; satellite settings at the corners, each with a green cabochon (one absent), the ring preserved in the same condition as it was when found. -
'The Fressingfield' Medieval Gold Ring with Diamond
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
With plain circular hoop and square diamond-shaped bezel with replicant natural diamond crystal. -
'The Wingham' Gold 'Fortune Favours the Brave' Posy Ring
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,080
Broadly rectangular in cross-section and constructed from two sheets of gold; the external hoop carrying an etched decorative design comprised of a row of eight-armed stars in relief with a prominent horizontal line connecting the stars; the internal hoop with Latin inscription in block capitals reading '+FORTES FORTVNA IVVAT' translating to 'fortune favours the brave/strong'; straightened.
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Iron Age British Celtic Enamelled Bronze Dragonesque Brooch
1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £520
Delicately moulded brooch with low-relief detailing, cells to accept enamel fill; S-curved pin in situ, the broad end wound around the shank. 6.12 grams, 41.6 mm
Found Norfolk, Southern England. Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s. From an East Anglian private collection. Accompanied by an old Norfolk Castle Museum record slip. -
Iron Age Celtic Enamelled Bronze Lyre-Shaped Mount
1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Openwork loop with stud to the upper face and small loop below, three attachment pegs to the underside, two pairs of discoid cells with enamel fill. 34.9 grams, 64 mm
Found Lincolnshire, UK, early 2000s. Acquired from the Cumberland Coin Fair, UK, early 2000s. Property of a Stowmarket, UK, gentleman. -
Bronze Age Palstave Axehead
Middle Bronze Age, 1400-1150 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Triangular flange on each side rising from the butt to the stop bar; below the septum, a hollow to each face; narrow body expanding to a wide triangular blade with curved edge and raised median rib. 443 grams, 17 cm
Found Spridlington, Lincolnshire, UK. -
Ostrogothic Silver-Gilt Buckle with Eagle-Headed Plate
Late 6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,820
Comprising a domed loop with running spiral ornament to the outer face; tongue with ribbed panel to the rear, beast-head finial curved over the forward edge; plate with square panel, cell to each corner and one to the centre with inset cabochon garnets, profile eagle-head to the rear edge with cabochon garnet eye. 105 grams, 13.3 cm
Fine condition.
Previously in a collection formed between 1990-2000. From an East London collection. Property of an important West London collector. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11885-206926. -
Germanic Gold Signet Ring with Engraved Chariot
4th-5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £598
Composed of a flat-section hoop and circular bezel bearing incuse stylised image of a horse-drawn chariot occupied by driver. 3.81 grams, 18.18 mm overall, 15.90 mm internal diameter (approximate size British J, USA 4 3/4, Europe 8.69, Japan 8)
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
The ring is of Germanic production that imitates the Roman iconography of emperors or divinities driving a horse-drawn chariot. It is one of the many Germanic goldsmith's products that fall within the so-called 'imitatio barbarica' and which characterise the Nordic goldwork in the Dark Ages. -
Merovingian 'Hattatt' Bronze Openwork Earring Pair
7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
Openwork hollow hexagonal earrings, four faces with raised diamond-shaped collars, some with glass inlay remaining, with a plain hoop, one half restored; 2.6cm diam of hoop, each ink marked '1576' on one face; on a pyramidal box mount, with typed collection notes. 43.7 grams total, 83 mm including stand
Ex Richard Hattatt collection. With note on the reverse of the mount stating they have been verified by the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. -
Viking Age or Earlier Hacked Gold Trade Ingot
Circa 10th century A.D. or earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
A slightly bent irregular bar of hacked gold with rectangular cross-section, showing evidence of compression and fracture to each end, some subtle transverse lines on both of the main surfaces. 14.43 grams, 51 mm
Found whilst searching with a metal detector on 1st May 2022 on a Romano-British site in Cambridgeshire, UK, by Trevor Singleton. Accompanied by a handwritten letter from the finder. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.CAM-D819F0 and workflow review page where it states: 'There is evidence that the bar fragment has been cut from both ends, suggesting Early Medieval (Viking Period) parallels.'
This ingot was declared under the Treasure Act and subsequently determined by the British Museum to be of 'undiagnostic' date and therefore returned to the finder. Trevor Singleton maintains that it was recovered from a known Romano-British site, while in neighbouring fields Early Medieval (Late Saxon & Viking) items have been recovered and logged with the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Ingots of gold and silver were regularly produced in the Early Medieval period when trade took place between monetised economies (Anglo-Saxon England, Francia, Frisia) and their non-monetised neighbours in southern Scandinavia (West, 1998; Blackburn, 2011). Ingots were a convenient means of storing wealth which could be converted into display items (weapon fittings, clothing fasteners, tableware) or used to gild silver and bronze items (Hårdh, 1996). -
Viking Age Gold Twisted Bracelet
9th-11th century A.D. or earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £1,235
Composed of a slender, decoratively twisted penannular hoop with expanded collared terminals. 9.51 grams, 61 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Large Viking Age Silver-Gilt Pendant with Interlace Design
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Cast openwork interlaced cross design with lozenge in centre, ribbed suspension loop. 12.06 grams, 46 mm high
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. -
Large Viking Age Silver-Gilt Pendant with Entwined Beasts
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
Cast with suspension loop, two beasts interlaced crossing in centre with heads with open mouths at 11 and 1 o'clock, with remains of gilding. 19.83 grams, 49 mm high
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. -
Large Viking Silver Pendant with Concentric Circle Design
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
In repoussé, complete with an applied suspension loop and central dome. 7.46 grams, 53 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Silver Pendant with Gripping Beast
Late 10th-early 11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £975
Of Riddarholmen type (also widespread in the historical Rus region), with integral loop; the openwork plaque with banded border and four panels, internal stylised zoomorph with hatched panel to the hip, gripping three-fingered hands to the body and border, two detailed feet, clearly visible facing mask below the loop with pellet eyes. 13.3 grams, 40 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.