Greek and Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Collection

Double-edged long sword (spatha) of type Osterburken-Kemathen; the blade with squared shoulders, broken into two parts for sacrificial reasons, tapering towards the point; sturdy tang partially preserved; wooden traces of the scabbard and hilt still visible; accompanied by a bronze outer rim of a scabbard; restored. 630 grams total, 78 cm long



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

The deliberate fragmentation of a sword, often into three pieces, was a symbolic act of ‘killing’ the weapon, which was then placed as a grave good or offered in a ceremonial context. This was a Germanic custom already visible in the Vandal Przeworsk culture around the 3rd or 4th century A.D., which continued in Northern European areas until the 5th and the 6th centuries A.D.

Comprising a slender single-edged blade with etched maritime designs; the hilt composed of a wire-bound ribbed bone handle, a lion-head pommel with inset eyes (one absent), and an ornate guard with folding edges, one side with a socket for securing the scabbard; accompanied by a leather scabbard with ornate metal fittings. 847 grams total, 93 cm



From the private collection of author and historian Dr DeWitt Bailey, one of the global authorities on the confederate army in the US civil war; thence by descent to his grandson.

Mainly barbed and tanged types of slender profile. 287 grams total, 6.2-17.7 cm



Ex London, UK, collection, 1990s.