Luristan Bronze Arrowhead

German practice stick grenade group including: a WWII model 24 Stielhandgranate with pierced red-coloured head; together with a restored relic head of WWI date. 684 grams, 44.5 cm



Acquired from The Lanes Armoury, Brighton, and Graham Currie Militaria. The Kusmirek Collection, UK. Accompanied by copies of the listings.

The brb-code name for Richard Rinker GmbH, was used for training German armed forced during WWII. Its distinctive appearance lead to it being dubbed the stick grenade' or 'potato masher' in British army slang. It used a friction igniter, with a pull cord running through the hollow wooden handle terminating in a porcelain ball.

The cylindrical shaft decorated with three bosses, blade with diverging edges, the upper sides of the hole and part of the blade decorated with a dotted pattern. 375 grams, 17.5 cm

Fine condition.

Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

The earliest Luristan bronze weapons, particularly daggers, axes, and adzes, share many similarities in form with Mesopotamian artefacts of the 3rd millennium BC. The unadorned weapons, especially the axes, adzes and picks, were made using simple clay or stone bivalve moulds with a core inserted into them to form the socket for the shaft.

Composed of four arms tipped with triangular spikes. 29 grams, 86 mm



Acquired on the German art market around 2000. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman.

Caltrops were scattered on battlefields in an effort to stop or slow advancing enemy cavalry or foot soldiers; regardless of how a caltrop lands, one spike is always facing upwards. Caesar used widely them at Alesia (Caes., BG 7.73; 82): 'Stakes a foot long, with iron hooks attached to them, were entirely sunk in the ground before these, and were planted in every place at small intervals; these they called spurs'.