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LOT 1488
Ibero-Celtic Style Iron Falcata with Inlaid Decoration
19TH CENTURY A.D. OR EARLIER
22 3/4 in. (771 grams, 57.7 cm).
A single-edged machaira sword of falcata typology, the hilt formed as a gracefully curving horse's head and neck, the blade with deep grooves, inlaid with geometric ornaments on the hilt and blade.
ProvenanceEx White Collection, England, 1970s.
The Bonnhauser Collection, Zurich, 2003.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
For originals see Quesada Sanz, F., El armamento Ibérico, Madrid, 1991; Quesada Sanz, F., Arma y símbolo: la falcata Ibérica, Alicante, 1992; Quesada Sanz, F., 'Patterns of interaction, Celtic and Iberian weapons in Iron Age Spain', in Celtic connections, volume 2, papers from the Tenth International Congress of Celtic Studies, Edinburgh, 1995, Edinburg, 2005.
FootnotesSince the 5th-4th century BC, the Iberian warriors armed themselves with round shields and single-edged swords (falcatas), gradually adopting the appearance of hoplite armies and the Etruscan version of the machaira. The latter type of sword was duly transformed into a completely new type, with a different size, shape and function, the falcata, which was already in use in the Iberian area by c. 490 BC. This falcata, a type of curved, one-edged sword of supposedly Greek origin, is generally accepted by the scholars as the 'national' weapon of the Iberians, usually suspended on the left side of the warrior, inside a sheath to which sometimes was attached a short knife. It was a terrible cut-and-thrust sword, with an average blade length of 45 cm.
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LOT 1488
Ibero-Celtic Style Iron Falcata with Inlaid Decoration
Estimate £800 - 1,000€930 - 1,160 (for guidance only)$1,080 - 1,350 (for guidance only)
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Oriental European Iron Armour Sections
10th-14th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Consisting of a square dorsal plate and a spherical shoulder protection, the dorsal plate with one of the fixing holes present. 790 grams total, 12.7-20 cm
UK private collection, acquired in 1996. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Although this is a type of armour that currently has no parallels for its dorsal plate, the spherical shoulder protection finds some comparable items with fragments of armour from the Balkans and could correspond to the melon of Eastern Roman sources of the period. -
Luristan Bronze Short Sword with Blood Channels
14th-10th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £9,750
Triangular blade with raised midrib flanked by shallow grooves extending from the integral lower-guard to the tip; the lower guard with raised coffee bean-shaped bosses to both sides; grooved handle with raised ribs and a large openwork crescentic pommel bearing a similar decoration to the blade at the top; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 1.31 kg total, sword: 47 cm long
Ex Rabi Gallery, London, UK, 1980s. From a private Surrey, UK, collection. 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 search certificate number no.12606-234422. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The now empty cavities of the handle were once filled with organic material. -
Hellenistic Bronze Cuirass Section
3rd-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Possibly an upper right front element of a composite cuirass for a cataphract (armoured horseman), part of the edge around the neck and shoulders still preserved although fragmentary, part of the clasps for attaching the back section still visible. 245 grams, 22.6 cm
UK private collection, acquired in 1996. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
A near complete armour for cataphract was found in the French excavations in Al-Khanoum, a Hellenistic city in Afghanistan. The cavalry of Seleucid, Ptolemaic and other Hellenistic Kingdoms formed regiments of heavy armoured horsemen, who in the west, employed a combination of lamellar and segmented armour together with muscled armour of Greek type. Cataphract armour in the West had more Greek elements, for example more plate armour and less scale and lamellar.
