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LOT 1291
Bronze Age Spectacle Brooch
8TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.
5 1/4 in. (84 grams, 13.3 cm).
Comprising a pair of opposing wire coils decreasing in thickness from edge to centre, a figure-of-eight to the centre; integral pin and catch-plate to the reverse. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the family collection of a Surrey gentleman since before 1960.
LiteratureCf. Bietti-Sestieri, A.M. and Macnamara, E., Prehistoric Metal Artefacts from Italy (3500–720 BC) in the British Museum, London, 2008, fig.615, for similar; Hambleton, J.M., Fibulae of the ninth through seventh centuries BC in Central Italy, Florida, 2008, fig.2-2b.
FootnotesThe spectacle fibula was widely distributed from the Balkans and northern Greece to southern Italy. Seven variations occur under this type with modifications made to the discs of the fibulae as well as the central connecting device. In the first and second variations
(variant 2-2b of Hambleton, the type here), the discs are coiled, whereas in the third and fourth the centre of the coil is left open. The figure eight loop also becomes shorter and wider in the fourth variant.
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Bronze Age Rapier or Short Sword Blade
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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. 223 grams, 31.5 cm
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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.
