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LOT 1417
Large Western Asiatic Bronze Socketted Axehead
3RD-2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.
7 1/2 in. (1.34 kg, 19 cm).
With wide swept blade, large socket with shallow raised circumferential rib, hammer to the rear.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Gernez, G., L’armament en métal au Proche et Moyen-Orient: des origines a 1750 av. J.C., Paris, 2007, fig.2.70, subtype H-MRT 2.C.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1417
Large Western Asiatic Bronze Socketted Axehead
Estimate £150 - 200€170 - 230 (for guidance only)$200 - 270 (for guidance only)
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Carolingian Iron Spur with Silver Studs
Circa 8th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
With D-section arms, attachment loop, prick spur with two bands of applied studs. 150 grams, 18 cm
Ex B Posey collection, 1990s. Ex Den of Antiquity, Cambridgeshire, UK. Accompanied by a dealer's catalogue information card. -
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
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Iron Spiked Macehead
Circa 16th-17th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £221
Comprising a globular flail head with large suspension loop above and sixteen spiked projections to the sides. 829 grams, 89 mm
From 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.
The 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.
