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Back to previous pageLOT 1689
Sold for (Inc. bp): £94
2ND CENTURY B.C.-EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.
1 3/8 in. (46.7 grams, 34 mm).
Sceptre head or other fitting with biconvex flange, domed finial.
PROVENANCE:
Found UK.
From the collection of a Yorkshire gentleman.
Property of a private collector, West London, UK.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Jope, E. M., Early Celtic Art, Oxford, 2000, pl.302-3, described as a vehicle pole and yoke fittings; Macdonald, P., Llyn Cerrig Bach. A Study of the Copper Alloy Artefacts from the Insular La Tène Assemblage, Cardiff, 2007, fig.23, item 49.
FOOTNOTES:
Twenty or so 'horn caps' are known in museums and private collections, all have been found in Britain and mostly in Southern England. Their exact function is unclear; early suggestions that they are axle fittings for chariots no longer holds weight. The shaft hole is too small and they do not appear in grave contexts containing chariots. A more likely hypothesis is that they were ceremonial, possibly a staff head or chair or saddle finial.
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