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LOT 1425
Iron Spiked Macehead
CIRCA 16TH-17TH CENTURY A.D.
3 1/2 in. (829 grams, 89 mm).
Comprising a globular flail head with large suspension loop above and sixteen spiked projections to the sides. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
See Sturtevant, P.B., The military flail, in Medieval Warfare, January/February 2017, Vol.6, No.6, pp.50-53, for discussion.
FootnotesThe medieval flail was a weapon mainly used in Eastern Europe, probably created among the Steppe people and used by the Mongols, adopted by the Slavic people under the name of kisten. Such a weapon probably saw little use in Western Europe, where it is first represented in the 14th century in a fresco depicting the battle of Nineveh painted by Piero della Francesca, as a chain with three maceheads. In the poem Le Chevalier Délibéré written by Olivier de la Marche and published in 1486, there is an engraving representing a knight carrying a rather simple morning star with asymmetrically mounted quills and a single-ball flail of quills. It is thought that in the Middle Ages the nailed mace in general was used to break through and dismantle the armour of enemies who were then 'finished' with swords or daggers.
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Elamite Bronze Cudgel with Animals
Circa mid 3rd-early 2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £1,200 - 1,700 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £400
With ribbed terminals; the upper body with three relief panels of herringbone design, the main body decorated with spikes, three lion bodies arranged vertically, and three ram-head protomes under the central herringbone panel; mounted on a custom-made stand. 650 grams total, 18.5 cm high (26.5 cm high including stand)
Ex Kuizenga collection, Netherlands. Acquired in Hamburg, Germany, 22 December 1995.
Moorey notes that though the rows of spikes suggest that these objects were designed to be mounted on wooden shafts as cudgels, the projections in the form of lions (?) indicates the possibility that they were also used as votive or parade weapons. However, it does not exclude an effective use on the battlefield, especially if used by commanders as signs of rank. -
Roman Iron Gladius Sword with Bird Triskeles
Circa 1st-2nd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,600
With fish-shaped blade of piled iron construction with square shoulder and flat-section tang; incised triskele motif to one face, each arm terminating in a bird's head with curved beak and lentoid eye; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 870 grams total, 67 cm high including stand
Acquired in the 2000s. From the private collection of John Lawton, Surrey, UK. -
Hellenistic Rhodian Lead Slingshot with Scorpion
3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Lentoid-section and depicting a stylised scorpion to one side and inscription 'ΚΑΛΑ' on the other. 26 grams, 31 mm
Ex Cummings collection, UK, 1990s.
Together with the Balearic slingers, Rhodian slingers were considered to be the best of the Hellenistic world, and they were also used in the Roman army. The slingshots with an image of a scorpion on one side and with an inscription ΚΑΛΑ on the other are believed to originate from the Island of Rhodes. On these sling bullets ΚΑΛΑ should be translated as “nice things.” Of course, ironically, these “nice things” were designed to kill enemies and to sting like a scorpion, and the message of those with the image of a scorpion could be understood, as proposed ny M. Manov and N. Torbov, as: “nice things sting like a scorpion.”
