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LOT 1851
Greek Lead Slingshot with Macedonian Star
4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
1 1/8 in. (27.8 grams, 28 mm).
Biconical in profile with casting seam and the Macedonian Star on one side.
ProvenanceEx German art market, 2000s.
Acquired from an EU collector living in London.
From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.
Cf. Manov, M., Torbov, N. ‘Inscribed Lead Sling Bullets with the name of Alexander the Great and with other Names and Symbols found in Thrace’ in Archaeologia Bulgarica XX, 2 (2016), pp.29-43, fig.14, for a bullet with a similar symbol.
FootnotesIn Greek warfare, slingers appear as psiloi, lightly equipped troops who skirmished ahead of a phalanx or alongside peltasts. Some city-states likely trained their own slingers; others were specialists. Rhodian slingers became famous in the 4th century B.C. because the islanders had a tradition of practice. In the Peloponnese, in mainland Greece, and along the Aegean coast, slingers fought in both field operations and sieges. The practice survived into the Roman period, during which specialist mercenaries, like the Rhodians or the Balearic slingers, were still in use.
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Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowhead Collection
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
Comprising leaf-shaped and triangular tanged arrowheads, most with a raised midrib. 238 grams total, 8.1-18.7 cm
London, UK, collection, 1990s.
All these bronze typologies of arrowheads were cast in moulds. Similar specimens have been found in Northwest and West Iran, Azerbaijan, Luristan and Amlash. Most of these blades are bipartite, but the definition of the bipartite type is not absolute, as it brings together weapons of very different and unrelated designs. In fact, some weapons do not have a sufficiently characteristic shape to be interpreted as a javelin or long arrowhead. -
Greek Lead Slingshot with X
4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Biconical in profile with casting seam and Greek legend '...X...' to one face. 30.4 grams, 37 mm
Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.
Greek bullets were cast in two-part moulds. Clay and stone moulds survive; metal moulds are much rarer in the archaeological records. The mould halves carry the negative of the bullet’s shape, often in rows, so that multiple bullets can be made at once. A narrow gate at the tip of each negative lets molten lead run into the cavity. After cooling, the caster opens the mould and breaks the sprue that links the bullets. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Spearhead
9th-7th century B.C.Estimate: £120 - 170 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £67
Comprising a leaf-shaped blade with a midrib and a long tapering socket; accompanied by a display stand, repaired. 365 grams total, spearhead: 36.5 cm (38.2 cm including stand)
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s.
The spear, belonging to type 3 of the Khorasani classification, was used by chariot fighters to strike each other or the enemy infantry from above. Similar specimens with longer sockets were excavated by Negahban in the Amlash area. According to Moorey, sockets as long, if not longer than the blade, are a characteristic of Iranian spearheads in the late 2nd and early 1st millennium B.C. A similar spearhead from the Tappeh Sialk has been dated to the 9th-7th century B.C.
