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LOT 1482
Greek Bronze Tri-Finned Arrowhead Collection
CIRCA 7TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
7/8 - 1 3/4 in. (77 grams total, 23-46 mm).
Comprising: seven arrowheads with a slender, lozenge-shaped blade and a socket extending near the tip, base of the socket with a side lug; eight socketted bronze arrowheads, mainly triangular or foliate in section, trilobate and with short socket. [15, No Reserve]
ProvenanceUK private collection before 2000.
Acquired on the UK art market.
Property of a London gentleman.
Cf. Sekunda, N., Marathon 490 BC, The first Persian invasion of Greece, Oxford, 2002, p.60; Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, in Russian, for similar arrowheads from Eurasian sites (plate XLIV, figs.19, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 39, 51, 71).
FootnotesThe Scythians were famous for their archery abilities, and were often employed as mercenaries. The Athenian tyrant Pisistratus hired them and they participated in battles beside the Athenian phalanx as well as serving as a police corps keeping order within the city of Athens. This explains the great range of Scythian arrowheads found on the Greek sites.
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AUCTIONS:
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Scythian Iron Akinakes Sword with Decorations
4th century B.C.Estimate: £1,500 - 2,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £750
Of Central Asian typology, strong hilt and narrow ogival guard with Steppe style ornamentation, tipped hilt, triangular tapering blade fitted with a central triangular blood channel with sixteen grooves. 481 grams, 58.5 cm
Ex private collection of Mr M.B., Mainz, Germany, since the 1980s. Acquired from the above, 2004. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12283-214520.
The akinakes was a characteristic Scythian type of weaponry, which was used throughout their history (7th-3rd centuries B.C.). With the departure of the Scythians from the steppe in the 3rd century B.C., and the appearance of the Sarmatian tribes in the Northern Black Sea region in the 2nd-1st centuries B.C., Sarmatian types of bladed weapons spread in the region. This particular shape of akinakes belongs to the nomadic cultures of Central Asia. -
Medieval Iron Spur with Rowel
Circa 14th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Comprising a U-shaped shank with carinated outer face, locket to each finial, ball and curved arms supporting a seven-pointed rowel. 70 grams, 13.5 cm
Private collection, UK, formed 1980s-1990s. -
Byzantine Iron Horse Bit
14th-15th century A.D.Estimate: £120 - 170 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £67
Composed of arched openwork shanks with looped terminals; one end fitted with large hoops and bar between; one end with a tripartite mouthpiece comprising two collared bars connected by a central hoop; Byzantine or early Ottoman. 340 grams, 19.5 cm
Fine condition.
Collection of Dr. Hanns-Ulrich Haedeke (1928-2017), author of ‘Schmuck Aus Drei Jahrtausenden’ and who became the director of the Museum of Klingenmuseum in Solingen, Germany, in 1968; the collection was formed in the early 1960s. From an important private Dutch collection.
This type of horse bit is visible on one of the most important equestrian artworks of the 15th century - the Cappella dei Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli, a painting representing the Three Kings visiting Christ, depicted in costumes belonging to the early quarter of the 15th century. All the cavalrymen in the artwork had heavy curb-bits (with short and curved shanks, as in our specimen) and heavy, single reins.
