Auction Highlights
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Egyptian Granite Head of a Dignitary
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
Carved with soft facial features and carefully executed cosmetic lines around the eye, earring, and carefully detailed duplex wig with gently wavy curls; likely from the Ramesside Period; mounted on a custom-made stand. -
Etruscan Bronze Statuette of Herakles
Sold for (Inc. bp): £18,200
Modelled in the round with a muscular nude body, his club resting on his shoulder and the hair dressed in rows of tight, close-set curls underneath the Nemean lionskin hood with cloak billowing over his left arm, the paws tied across his chest; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Roman Marble Portrait of a Boy as Worshipper of Isis
Sold for (Inc. bp): £17,550
Carved head of a prepubescent worshipper of Isis, with soft facial features, long nose, small downturned mouth, heavy-lidded eyes, the whole giving the face a sombre or mournful appearance; the hair textured to indicate a short cut and combed forward across the scalp, sidelock above the right ear; mounted on a 16th century carved breccia upper body with leather cuirass and pteruges to right shoulder, cloak draped across the shoulders and fastened at the clavicle on the right side with a disc-brooch; socle base; some restoration. -
Larger Than Life-Size Roman Bronze Sandaled Foot
Sold for (Inc. bp): £39,000
Modelled in the round and originally part of a monumental statue, the naturalistic right foot encased in a trochades leather sandal with median reversed tongue secured with side straps and thick looped laces; the thick platform sole slightly curved, toes and nails well defined; mounted on a substantial custom-made display stand. -
Life-Size Roman Marble Sleeping Girl from a Sarcophagus Lid
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20,800
Modelled in the half-round, nude with eyelids half-closed in sleep; a drapery partly covering the head and wrapping around the lower body under the hips; the hairstyle similar to those of the Antonine Dynasty, the peaceful face supported by the hands and the ear pierced to accept an earring; iron reinforcing rod to the feet and the right arm's armilla a later replacement; upper head restored in Parian marble. -
Byzantine Porphyry Relief with Cross Surrounded by Two Birds
Sold for (Inc. bp): £28,600
An imposing panel divided to four sections by a central cross on a stepped pedestal, the lower and upper arm with branch-like extensions; the upper quadrants with a circlet surrounding a palm tree-shaped motif; each lower quadrant with a bird in profile facing back; mounted on a custom-made display stand. -
Carved Marble Memento Mori Skull
Sold for (Inc. bp): £16,900
Carved skull on a short neck with musculature and blood vessels; mandible in place with some teeth in sockets, wisps of hair adhering to the dome of the skull; one zygomatic bone partly absent; square-section socle base. -
'The Kelton' Gandharan Head of a Bodhisattva
Sold for (Inc. bp): £24,700
Carved in the half-round head of a Bodhisattva (probably Maitreya) with fine detailing to the arched brow, aquiline nose, neat moustache and full lips; the eyes heavily lidded, urna to the forehead, long open lobes to the ears; the hair in multi-stranded curling locks gathered into an ushnisha with brow-band below; heavily cleaned, conserved, and mounted on a custom-made stand; supplied with original old wooden base with collector's label: 'Head of Bodhisattva / Fine grain schist / Gandhara, Northwest Pakistan / 4th century'.
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Anglo-Saxon Bronze Acanthus Leaf Strap End
10th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Tongue-shaped Winchester Style plaque with openwork acanthus-leaf design, transverse collar, panel with two rivets. 9.07 grams, 33 mm
Found East Anglia, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Saxon 'Published' Bronze Cross Pendant
6th-8th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
Cruciform pendant with impressed ring-and-dot motifs to the obverse, each arm with notched end. 6.7 grams, 39 mm
From the collection of the famous author, writer and speaker, Gordon Bailey, Essex, UK; formed since 1968. -
Anglo-Saxon Bronze Equal-Arm Brooch
Circa 6th-8th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Of ansate type with lobe finials; surface covered with ring-and-dot motifs. 11.3 grams, 57 mm
Found UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Large Viking Age Bronze Tortoise Brooch Pair
9th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
Comprising: two elliptical tortoise brooches, each a domed openwork shell with raised ornament of five bell-shaped studs and four Borre Style beasts; frieze of profile beasts to the lower edge and flange rim; catchplate, pin-hinge and pendant attachment bar to the reverse with mineralised remains of textile backing; repaired. 218 grams total, 10.8-11.5 cm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. -
Massive Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Cruciform Brooch Terminal
6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Fragment from the foot with trapezoidal plain panel, lateral avian heads and pelta-shaped panel of Style I zoomorphs; remains of catch rib to reverse. 28.3 grams, 57 mm
Found Lincolnshire, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Mount
8th-9th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Appliqué with dense interlace design and traces of gilding. 7.26 grams, 41 mm
Found North Norfolk, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998.
The style of interlace is similar to that seen on various 8th c. cross shafts, ornamental caskets, etc. -
Anglo-Saxon Bronze Sword Scabbard Pyramid Mount
Circa 6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
Hollow-formed pyramidal mount with hexagon design in low relief, slider bar to underside. 1.9 grams, 12 mm
Found Norfolk, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Viking Age Silver Torc Section with Axehead Pendant
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £78
Curved flat-section fragment with hatched edges and incised bilinear running zigzag motif, pierced to accept a suspension ring with miniature axehead dangle bearing a ring-and-dot motif and hatched borders. 6.27 grams, 65 mm
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Plundered Gaming King Piece
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £416
Domed bronze stud with traces of gilding and enamel, silver stud at apex; embedded in a circular block of lead to form a trade weight or gaming piece; two silver discs (or ends of a silver loop) to the underside. 24.7 grams, 20 mm
Found Suffolk, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.NMS-C85DE6.
Trade weights and gaming pieces in Anglo-Scandinavian culture were often formed by taking a small and finely-made pre-existing item and embedding it into a lead matrix. The effect of this practice has been to preserve smaller pieces which would otherwise not have survived. -
Anglo-Saxon and Viking Bronze Artefact Collection
5th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Comprising: a plain Roman lanceolate strap end; a strap end with an animal head terminal and interlaced design, two rivet holes (9th century A.D.); a strap end, with multiple interlock animals, two rivet holes (9th century A.D.); a strap end, banded with vertical design (9th century A.D.); a tongue-shaped strap end with a design representing a tree, central boss surrounded by repeated radiate design, three rivet holes; a wolf or dragon head copper stirrup terminal; a round openwork knife's pommel. 85 grams total, 30-65 mm
From the collection of the famous author, writer and speaker, Gordon Bailey, Essex, UK; formed since 1968.
The decoration of the military belts included metal strap ends, which were fixed to the end of the belts and formed of protection and acted as a weighted terminal. Strap ends were multi-purpose in function, used primarily in pairs for waist belts, baldrics and horse harnesses. -
Viking Age Bronze Studded Cross Fitting
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Cruciform mount with three radiating lobes and a fourth slotted section; each lobe with separately cast boss; each boss with upper face divided into four segments, two plain and two with deep hatching; ferrous stains to underside showing attachment points, ferrous stain to the slotted centre; possibly from a portable shrine or reliquary. 56 grams, 49 mm
From a North Yorkshire, UK, private collection. Acquired from Adam Partridge Auctioneers, Macclesfield, UK. Property of Mr A.B., an American collector. -
Anglo-Saxon Bronze Cruciform Brooch with Horse-Head Terminal
Later 5th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
A bronze cruciform brooch of early type comprising: square headplate with rectangular wings and three knops modelled in the round, shallow bow with ribbed median panel, lappets to the footplate, horse-head finial with pellet eyes and nostrils, pin-lug and catch to the reverse, old collector's label '15233'; mounted on a custom-made stand. 27.2 grams, 76 mm (54.8 grams total, 92 mm including stand)
Property of an English gentleman; formerly in a UK collection formed 1970s-1990s. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998.