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LOT 1382
Elamite Bronze Crescentic Axehead
MID 3RD-EARLY 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.
5 in. (333 grams, 12.5 cm).
With slender tubular socket, horizontal upper cheek and curved lower one, scooped profile to blade with convex cutting edge.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
See Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg (2003), pl.XIX, no.68 (Susa, Elam), for similar.
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LOT 1382
Elamite Bronze Crescentic Axehead
Estimate £150 - 200€170 - 230 (for guidance only)$200 - 270 (for guidance only)
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Canaanite Bronze Dirk
13th-12th century B.C.Estimate: £400 - 600 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £200
With lentoid-section blade, tongue-shaped in plan, integral tapering hilt with flared finial, lateral flanges to accept a panel of bone or wood to each face forming the grip. 174 grams, 34 cm
Ex Joseph J. Gancie (1923-2010), Washington, Silver Spring, Maryland. with Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc., sale 1035, 27 January 2013, lot 162a.
The dirk belongs to the type III in the Medvedskaya classification, used in Near East from the 13th to the 6th century B.C. The type is the 32a of the Maxwell-Hyslop study. The Asiatic daggers of this type are confined to Syria and Persia, but Transcaucasia also provides an interesting analogy from Kalekent on the Baku peninsula, where a pointed straight-sided dagger blade has a flanged hilt with the whole of the side flanges bent over the centre. -
Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Group
13th-7th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
Comprising mainly tanged arrowheads including various types of leaf-shaped heads with midribs. 200 grams total, 12-15.3 cm
Acquired 1990s. From the collection of a late Japanese weaponry collector.
The barbed arrowhead seems to belong to the type V, subcategory type C, according to the classification of Khorasani and Negahban. In the four categories of triangular bronze arrowheads from Luristan, Marlik and Northern Iran individuated by Negahban, subtypes C and D of type V are larger arrow or javelin heads, C large triangular arrowheads with barbed shoulders and D with lanceolate shape and rounded midrib. The straight shoulders recalls a Marlik typology (see Khorasani, 2006, p.307, fig.379). -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Piriform body with broad neck, stamped roulettes to the lower body and fronds to the shoulder, domed filler-hole, intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 982 grams, 16 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'.
Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form.