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LOT 1544
Greek Iron Lancehead
MAGNA GRAECIA, 6TH CENTURY B.C.
16 7/8 in. (277 grams total, 43 cm including stand (lance 25.8 cm)).
Blade widened at the base, ribbed, conical socket with wooden remains.
ProvenanceFrom the famous arms and armour collection of Axel Guttmann (1944-2001), Berlin, Germany.
Ex Hermann Historica, Munich, Germany, 4 May 2011, no.1783 (lot).
From a private specialist collection, London, UK.
Accompanied by copies of the relevant Hermann Historica catalogue pages.
Cf. Bottini, A., Gli strumenti della guerra in Lucania,Bari, 1994, p.74, for similar specimens.
FootnotesThe spear finds an almost identical parallel in two spearheads from Lavello, found associated with a Corinthian helmet and a sword, as part of Burial objects, dating back to around the middle of the 6th century BC. This type of hoplite weaponry was used by individual warriors, who, in Daunia (South Italic Apulia), while adopting Greek models, fought on horseback, according to a fighting style centred on the heroic duel between leaders.
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Mainly barbed and tanged types of slender profile. 287 grams total, 6.2-17.7 cm
Ex London, UK, collection, 1990s. -
Large Iron Age Celtic Spearhead
Circa 450 B.C.-50 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
With long slender leaf-shaped blade and short tubular socket. 550 grams, 48.1 cm
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Frankish Warrior's Iron Byrnie Chain Mail Armour
Northern Europe, circa 6th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,680
A nearly complete short-sleeved ring armour composed of interlocking links in the four-through-one formation with alternating rivetted rings. 4.71 kg, 65 x 75 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.13041-248010.
The rings are arranged in rows, and the links within the same row do not join. Instead, each ring connects to two rings in the row above and two in the row beneath. A great majority of all-rivetted mail comes from Southern Scandinavia and Northern Europe, notably Sweden, northern Germany and Poland. All-rivetted mail already occurs there during the Roman Iron Age, and continues into the Migration, the Vendel, and then the Viking periods. Rivetted rings were usually fabricated by shaping metal wire into a circle with the ends overlapping several mm. Here, the riveted rings seem to be of reshaped oval form.
