Elaborate Canaanite Bronze 'Anchor' Axehead

A 'Curonian' sword comprising a straight blade with a narrow and long tang, showing signs of employment on the edges; boat-shaped bronze cross guard with Jellinge style decoration of circles and crosses; rivetted seven-lobed pommel with an upper guard showing similar ornament. 689 grams, 81.5 cm



Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12618-235588. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The sword, with its seven-lobed pommel and its guards finds good parallels with Baltic swords used by Prussian, Curonians, Estonian and Lithuanian pagan warriors; clear parallels can be seen in Kazakevičius 1996, figs.62-63 (fig.2) and Tomsons, 2012, fig.2 (Fig.3),3,7. The Curonian swords of this type, sometimes with animal head decoration on the lower guard, were widespread and used in the Eastern Baltic lands from 10th to 13th century.

With lentoid-section blade, integral tapering hilt with flared finial, lateral flanges to accept a panel of bone or wood to each face forming the grip. 283 grams, 40 cm



Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The dirk belongs to the type IIIa of the Medvedskaya classification. In these specimens handle and blade are cast in one piece. In Luristan, daggers produced up until the second half of the 2nd millennium B.C. were simple bronze or copper blades with the tangs attached by rivets to a handle made of organic material.

Fusiform with reserved legend 'LXIII' (for LEGIO XIII = 13th Legion). 32.6 grams, 36 mm



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a gentleman collector. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The shot (Völling type 1C) is marked with the abbreviated name of Legion XIII, and was probably used at the Battle of Munda (or Monda) against Julius Caesar, 17th March 45 B.C., or against the sons of Pompey, because both the generals (Pompey sons and Caesar) had in their army a Legio with the numeral XIII on that day. Interestingly, other glandes of the same typology from the same battlefield bear the name of Pompey, so that it is much possible that the glans belongs to the Legio XIII of Pompey, who was destroyed during the battle and whose survivors were massacred among the 22,000 defenders of Cordoba by the troops of Caesar (D'Amato, 2021, pp.421 and 424). The projectiles were made of different materials: lead (glandes) or in pottery or stone (lapides missiles).