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LOT 1871
Luristan Bronze Short Sword with Crescent-Shaped Pommel
10TH CENTURY B.C.
15 3/4 in. (450 grams, 40 cm).
Comprising a triangular blade with integral ribbed handle and a crescentic pommel.
ProvenanceEx Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s.
LiteratureCf. Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.380, cat.43. for a similar type from Marlik.
FootnotesThese kinds of bronze daggers or dirks, typical of Marlik culture, were cast in a one piece mould according to Negahban, although in some specimens the guard was later cast into the blade. The separate sets of encircling ribs on the grips are again typical of swords from the Marlik area. In our specimen the grip is opened on one side to receive organic filling.
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LOT 1871
Luristan Bronze Short Sword with Crescent-Shaped Pommel
Estimate £500 - 700€580 - 810 (for guidance only)$680 - 950 (for guidance only)
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Luristan Bronze Socketted Axehead
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
With a short socketted shaft and flange to the mouth, broadening blade towards the cutting edge. 367 grams, 12 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowhead Collection
1000-700 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
Comprising fifteen tanged arrowheads, four with elongated triangular blades and raised midrib, two of squared type with flat tang, three with barbed shoulders and short cylindrical stem with handle for the shaft; two with squared shoulders and rectangular stem with handle for the shaft, one with leafed elongated blade, one with wide triangular head and long handle for the shaft, and other two long and spiked with raised midrib. 240 grams total, 7.1-16.5 cm
London, UK, collection, 1990s.
Some of the arrowheads belong to type V of the Khorasani classification: subtype D (triangular arrowheads with rounded or angular midrib) and subtype C, arrowheads with elongated, triangular shape with barbed shoulders and convex sides, and a raised midrib with a sharp central line. -
Elamite Bronze Macehead with Winged Human and Animal Figure
2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £1,500 - 2,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £750
Of cylindrical form with a raised collar at each end, one side depicting a nude male with a projecting grotesque head, the other side with a projecting ram's head with a long, curving serpent below, two crescentic wings projecting from the upper part of the socket. 285 grams, 98 mm
Acquired before 1983. Ex London gallery, 1990s. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13258-253387.
Maces in the Middle East had always had a double function since the early periods: a) as a weapon and b) as a status symbol or symbol of rank and office. The bull-headed mace, called gorz-e gavsar in Persian, was already in use in the ancient Elam and Luristan, and was also common in religious ceremonies.
