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LOT 1136
Avar-Byzantine Silver-Gilt Sword Belt Mount Group
7TH CENTURY A.D.
3/4 - 1 7/8 in. (25.1 grams total, 18-48 mm).
Comprising six mounts: four 'floral' plates composed of six raised pellet-in-ring motifs arranged around a central hole, some mounting lugs remaining to the reverses; an openwork knotwork type with three mounting lugs to reverse; a hollow-formed rectangular plate with one rounded end, granulated borders framing granulated clusters arranged in orderly rows around a central arm and piercing; granulated border to reverse. [6]
ProvenanceAcquired in the 1980s-1990s.
Ex an important central London gallery, London W1.
Cf. Daim, F., Hunnen + Awaren, Reitervölker aus dem Osten, Burgenländische Landesausstellung 1996, Schloß Halbturn, 26 April - 31 Oktober 1996, Eisenstadt, 1996, p.398, nos.5.365-5.367, for similar belt fittings.
FootnotesThis type of belt element decorated with granulation, is present in the Avar graves of the second half of the 7th century, and was most likely produced in the workshops of the Eastern Roman Empire, from where they reached the Avar lands as imperial gifts (tomb of Kunbàboni) or spoils of war. They were part of multiple belts, to which sabers and knives were attached, commonly used among Avars, Bulgars and Romans during the 7th and 8th centuries AD.
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LOT 1136
Avar-Byzantine Silver-Gilt Sword Belt Mount Group
Estimate £200 - 300€230 - 350 (for guidance only)$270 - 410 (for guidance only)
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Iron Age Celtic La Tene III Sword
1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Accompanied by a scabbard with fragments of the slider; the sword with lentoid-section two-edged iron blade, tapering gently to a broad point; slightly bent square-section tang; the fragments of the scabbard show a broad, slender sheath with stepped lower end, the obverse face rolled over the edges to clasp the reverse plate; the suspension elements comprising a fragment of the transverse bars clasping the front and back plates connected to vertical flared straps with a stepped slider-loop to the centre, once framed by two more similar bars with vertical straps forming a hollow square in which the slider-loop sits; mounted on a wall display mount. 1.5 kg total, 87 cm
Private collection, Munich, Germany, 1970s. Private collection, London, UK, 2014, acquired from the above.
Celtic swords of this period were longer, reaching one meter in length, with the tip having the tendency to be rounded, while the scabbards were less decorated or more simply ornamented than the swords of the previous period. -
French Foreign Legion Kepi
Circa 1930-1940s A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Black and red cloth with gold-coloured banding and 'button'; red lining and typed label reading 'Sergent BUYUKISPIR Haluk 1o R.E. Quartier Viénot C.S.L.E./S.I.H.L.E....'. 197 grams, 24.5 cm wide
Acquired from Czerny's Auctions, Italy, lot 104, 2016. The Kusmirek Collection, UK. Accompanied by copy of Czerny's invoice and information. -
Roman Marble Ballista Catapult Shot
1st-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,430
Suitable for use with an onager or other small catapult-type siege weapon; with roughened, abrasive surface. 682 grams, 79 mm
Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector.
The operation of the onager (Latin for 'wild ass') is first mentioned in 353 A.D. by Ammianus Marcellinus in his Res Gestae and more fully in Vegetius's Epitoma Rei Militaris probably written in the reign of Emperor Theodosius I (378-395 A.D.).
