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LOT 1413
Large Roman Socketted Iron Spearhead
3RD-5TH CENTURY A.D.
18 1/4 in. (834 grams, 46.5 cm).
With a large triangular blade, fitted with a central shallow groove, squared shoulders and a socketted shaft. [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.
Cf. for similar Glad, D., L’armement dans la région balkanique á l’époque romaine tardive et proto-byzantine (284-641). Heritage, adaptation et innovation, Brepols, 2015, p.270 lett. Ie, for similar.
FootnotesThis spear was probably part of the armament of the Imperial Guards of the late Roman Empire. Similar spears are visible on the recently found reliefs of Nicomedia, in the hands of a protector divini lateris (guard of the Divine Flanks) of the Emperor Diocletian (Agturk, 2021, p.115) and other Imperial infantrymen. The same kind of spear is visible on a recently discovered sarcophagus of a protector of Diocletian, Tziampo, from the same locality.
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AUCTIONS:
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Western Asiatic Bronze Tanged Spearhead
3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £124
With long blade, shallow midrib, rectangular-section tang; engraved, reinforced shaft, and squared shoulders. 423 grams, 34.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
According to Gernez, this spear belongs to the group of tripartite spears with bulging biconcave ogival blade, a marked stop and tang, usually curved. The tomb KCG 14 of Carchemish, yielded a similar example, in association with spears and ceramic dated from the second half of the 3rd millennium. A very similar spear comes from a tomb at Tell Mozan. A larger example with a decoration of rings in relief on the stem belongs to the λ deposit of Byblos. Another spear, of similar form, presents a decoration of vertical lines on the stem. It was found in the tomb of the Lord of the Caprids at Ebla, making it the most recent in the series (around 1750 B.C.). -
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100 Civil War Period Lead Musket Balls
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Mixed group of lead-alloy musket and carbine balls, some with casting seam and sprue nipple. 1.71 kg total, 9-19 mm
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Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Group
13th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Comprising tanged arrowheads of leaf-shaped and barbed types, most with midribs. 182 grams total, 64-13.5 cm
Acquired 1990s. From the collection of a late Japanese weaponry collector.
Although some of them different in shape, these arrowheads are apparently related types of a polythetic group. There are represented two basic deltoid forms: one has a sharp, flat blade, the ends of which extend to form wings or barbs, and a prominent midrib extending into a long tang that often has a stop; the blade shape varies from deltoid to more manifestly triangular. The other form has no barbs, but it has a prominent midrib extending to the tang, the blade narrow and leaf shaped.
