Bronze Age Rapier or Short Sword Blade

11TH-9TH CENTURY B.C.

12 3/8 in. (223 grams, 31.5 cm).

With ogival sides, a raised mid-rib and lozenge-shaped shoulders, remains of the tang with a hole for the insertion of the fastening rivet. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired in the late 19th century.
Ex private collection, Liverpool, UK.
Helios Gallery Antiquities, Wiltshire, UK.
Private collection, Preston, UK.

Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Helios Gallery no.H3163r.

Literature

Cf. British Museum accession no.1890,1113.6, for one of the swords from Charenton Hoard, France; see also Gagnière, S.,Germand, L., Granier, I., Les Armes et les outils protostoriques en bronze du Musée Calvet D'Avignon, Avignon, 1963, no.37, for a similar blade.

Footnotes

The top of the sword is missing, and the shape of the blade resembles that of swords of the late European Bronze Age, but the particular shape of the central groove of the blade, which forms a three-quarter median rib before tapering towards the point, could lead one to believe that the sword was of the antennal type with median rib, like the sword from Central Italy preserved in the Calvet Museum, Avignon.

CONDITION

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LOT 1276