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LOT 1379
Bactrian Bronze Axehead
3RD-2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.
4 1/8 in. (227 grams, 10.6 cm).
With curved flaring cutting edge, characteristic curving shape and narrow socket, blade end squaring off, shaft hole pierced on both sides.
ProvenanceAcquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.
Cf. Gernez, G., L’armament en métal au Proche et Moyen-Orient: des origines a 1750 av. J.C., Paris, 2007, fig.2.15, type H2.Ia1, for the type.
FootnotesThese collared axes have the specific feature of being equipped with variously shaped rear extensions. The provenance of this typology is clearer than others: these axes came from Margiana and southern Bactria. Gonur Depe and Susa yielded a rather atypical and probably imported example. P. Amiet suggests that they were an adoption of Elamite material, from conceptual and institutional models. They would have developed from the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1379
Bactrian Bronze Axehead
Estimate £350 - 450€410 - 520 (for guidance only)$470 - 610 (for guidance only)
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Medieval Iron Single-Edged Dagger
12th-14th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
With thick straight back and gently tapering cutting edge, flat tang pierced to accept rivets to attach scales. 264 grams, 42.3 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. From an East Anglian, UK, private collection. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman. -
Viking Age Iron Socketted Hooked Axehead
Circa 9th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
With long, deeply curved blade, short neck, socket with triangular wings above and below; professionally cleaned, conserved, and restored. 460 grams, 15 cm
Cleaned, conserved and restored.
From the family collection of a South East London collector; formerly acquired in the late 1950s.
These axes are typical of Baltic workmanship. During this age, the axes were the favourite weapons of many Baltic people, including the Curonian army which included lightly armed soldiers who fought with spears, shields, fighting knives and axes. A heavily armed soldier could also carry a sword, a helmet, a shield, and a wide-bladed axe. -
Luristan Bronze Socketted Axehead
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Trapezoidal blade and a cylindrical socket with a collared base, lateral horizontal rib to each face, lobe to the rear; the blade long and with a slightly convex blunt edge. 232 grams, 13.1 cm
Ex Norri collection, Milton Keynes, UK, 1980s-1990s.
