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LOT 0258
Luristan Bronze Short Sword with Inlaid Handle
1000 B.C.
19 5/8 in. (515 grams, 50 cm).
With triangular tapering blade, flanged hilt to accept inlays, bone on the handle, two angular indentations on each side of the guard.
Provenancewith Bonhams, London, 4 July 1996, no.324.
Private collection, Suffolk.
Cf. Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.378, cat.7,9.
FootnotesThis dirk is of Medvedskaya type I, a common weapon among dirks and daggers produced in Luristan. According to Moorey, such kind of daggers were produced in Western Persia at least since the 13th century B.C. and remained in use at least until the 9th century B.C. The two practically identical examples published by Khorasani are preserved in the National Museum of Teheran.
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Luristan Bronze Short Sword
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
A short sword or dirk with slender triangular blade, low round midrib with flat upper face, annular guard and remains of scooped shoulders, columnar grip with open sides to receive bone or wooden hilt, crescent pommel. 303 grams, 40.5 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1990s.
These bronze daggers or dirks, typical of Marlik culture, were cast in a one piece mould according to Negahban, although in some specimens the penannular guard was cast later into the blade. The separate sets of encircling ribs on the grips are again typical of swords from the Marlik area.
