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-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Strap End
10th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Tongue-shaped with openwork design, median figure of a bird with wings spread, domed bosses to the frame. 10.8 grams, 39 mm
Found Norfolk, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Viking Age Bronze Pendant with Duck-Foot Pendants
8th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £624
A rectangular bronze pendant formed as a pair of addorsed horse-heads in profile and openwork panel; bar with seven articulated chains each terminating in a pendant formed as the foot of a wading bird, Finno-Ugric type. 146 grams, 15 cm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. -
Anglo-Saxon Bronze Saucer Brooch
6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
With raised flange rim, tondo with raised border and four radiating Style I profile heads around a central stud; pin-lug and catch to reverse. 17.8 grams, 39 mm
Found East Anglia, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Wolf-Head Strap End
10th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Elongated plate with longitudinal split and rivet; openwork scrolled tendril motif developing to a wolf-head. 14.6 grams, 55 mm
Found Norfolk, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998.
The head is sometimes attributed to Fenrir the cosmic wolf which will break free from the bonds the gods placed on it and destroy the world at the end of time. -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Radiate-Headed Brooch
Later 5th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
With oval headplate with three knobs, the obverse decorated with curvilinear knotted ridged design, rounded bow; ferrous remains to the reverse. 4.84 grams, 30 mm
Found Skirpenbeck, East Riding of Yorkshire, UK. From an old private collection of a Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.YORYM-2A90CB. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Artefact Group
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £195
Including a regardant beast mount, Urnes Style brooch fragment, Ringerike Style strap-end and other items. 33.6 grams total, 16-41 mm
Found East Anglia, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Key with Openwork Handle
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
With large discoid bow, barrel shank and hooked bit, trefoil slot to the rear edge; the large circular bow with openwork tree motif, pointillé detailing. 39 grams total, 58 mm
From the collection of the famous author, writer and speaker, Gordon Bailey, Essex, UK; formed since 1968.
In the Viking Age, keys were a symbol of power worn prominently attached to the belt or chatelaine of the lady of the household. Handing over the set of keys may have formed part of the marriage ceremony, when the bride accepted her new role as the leading female of the community. In Anglo-Saxon England, the contents of the locked areas (cupboards and chests) were the specific responsibility of the lady, the key-holder. -
Anglo-Saxon Bronze Miniature Girdle Hanger
Circa 6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
With hatched shank and T-shaped finial. 6.18 grams, 71 mm
Found Lincolnshire, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Saucer Brooch
6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
With shallow flange rin, punched-point detail to border and five-pointed star to the centre. 20.7 grams, 41 mm
Found East Midlands, UK. From an old private collection of Norfolk, UK, gentleman, formed since 1998. -
Viking Age Gold Pendant with Natural Garnets
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
Hoop with cell and dangle with irregular garnet beads, spherical dangle finial. 1.54 grams, 27 mm
Ex property of a late Japanese collector, 1970-2000s. -
Roman to Medieval Bronze Ring Collection
1st-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Including coiled, disc-bezel and other types. 40 grams total, 22-27 mm
UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a London gentleman. -
Medieval Stained Glass Head of a Saint
Western France, 15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £494
Portrait bust of John the Evangelist with vesica-shaped brooch at the chest, nimbus behind the head. 62.3 grams, 10.7 cm
Ex central London gallery.