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LOT 1406
Heavy Western Asiatic Bronze Axehead
LATE 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
5 3/4 in. (741 grams, 14.5 cm).
With swept blade, large socket with shallow raised circumferential rib and a vertical rib to the rear.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
For similar examples of axes see Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg (2003), pl.XX, no.44 (Mundigak, layer III, third quarter of the 3rd millennium B.C.).
FootnotesIn the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C., the most widespread types of axes were those made for splitting and those for cutting. In the last third of this millennium there emerged a sharp differentiation between such axes. Such a sharp division by function should be associated with the influence of the Syro-Palestinian tradition. Such differentiation, in the absence of some multifunctional forms, can be observed from the end of the 4th millennium B.C. and during the 3rd millennium B.C.
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LOT 1406
Heavy Western Asiatic Bronze Axehead
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
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Scythian Scale Armour Sections
6th-5th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
Two panels from a scale armour coat composed of more than two hundred overlapping bronze scales, each mounted onto a custom-made leather panel for purposes of display; the scales formed in different series, some having holes only in the upper part, some with three holes in the upper part and two holes to the left, and others showing three upper holes and one side hole. 255 grams total, 15.2-16.5 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.12044-216404.
The favourite armour of the Scythian noblemen was composed of scales, usually protecting the torso, sometimes the entire body (kataphraktoi). The Scythians found that the most efficient method was to arrange the overlapping ‘fish-scales’ as a corselet made of a number of bronze and iron plates, which then protected the wearer against sword and spear thrusts. Our scales correspond well to bronze scales found in May 1961 in an accidentally destroyed burial in a barrow, near the village of Nadezhda Sovetsky district. They were discovered together with iron scales, a Greek Corinthian helmet, fragments of an amphora, five arrowheads and fragments of an iron sword. Most of these bronze scales were oblong in shape, with a sub-rectangular upper end and a rounded lower end, but slightly bigger than our scales. -
Marlik Type Bronze Tanged Spearhead
12th-11th century B.C.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
With heavily ridged and tapering blade, short collared shaft and a square-section tapering tang bent at the tip. 159 grams, 31.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
The weapon belongs to type I of the Khorasani classification. Similar weapons have been excavated in Marlilk by Professor Negahban and dated by Stutzinger to the late 13th-early 12th century B.C. -
Medieval Swallowtail Iron Arrowhead
14th-15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
With two splayed long barbs, twisted neck and split socket. 15.7 grams, 96 mm
Acquired prior to 2000. Ex private collection, Cambridgeshire, UK. Property of a Kent lady collector.
