Greek Bronze Arrowhead Group

With long, deeply curved blade, short neck, socket with triangular wings above and below; professionally cleaned, conserved, and restored. 460 grams, 15 cm

Cleaned, conserved and restored.

From the family collection of a South East London collector; formerly acquired in the late 1950s.

These axes are typical of Baltic workmanship. During this age, the axes were the favourite weapons of many Baltic people, including the Curonian army which included lightly armed soldiers who fought with spears, shields, fighting knives and axes. A heavily armed soldier could also carry a sword, a helmet, a shield, and a wide-bladed axe.

A double-edged blade of Lauriacum Hromówka typology with blood channels running down most of its length on both sides, parallel cutting edges tapering towards the triangular point, massive tapering tang with a bronze nail for the fastening of the pommel, and an ancient repair at the base of the tang with a flattened domed rivet. 468 grams, 70.1 cm



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12917-245171.

Although in Latin literature the late Roman sword was often still conventionally called gladius (Ammianus Marcellinus, Historiae, XIX, 6; Passio SS. Rogatiani et Donatiani, 1859, p.323), the main kind of blade of the 3rd and 4th century Roman soldier belongs to the type so-called spatha (Scriptores Historia Augusta, Divus Claudius, XXV,7,5; 8,5) which directly derived from the long cutting Celtic sword of the La Tène III period, already used by the cavalrymen and auxilia of the previous ages. The great spatha (spathì) of the Roman heavy infantryman was considered by Julius Africanus (Fragm., I, 1, 53) as the main weapon of the armoured legionary of Alexander Severus. The frequent clashes with Germanic warriors armed with long swords and the increased recruitment of them in the Roman army quickened a more intensive use of the spathae by the milites legionarii. These longer swords slowly replaced the shorter gladius, the double-edged sword of the imperial infantry, for all types of troops.

Of 'wheel' type, Ward Perkins 1940, Type VIII; octagonal in plan with chamfered edges and roughly circular in section, a rectangular perforation running through the length of the object, wider at the blade end and narrowing at the butt end; at the base; the perforation off-centre and worn to one edge. 114 grams, 48 mm



Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Warslow and Elkstones, Staffordshire Moorlands, West Midlands, UK. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.WWID-94E7C5.