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LOT 1101
Luristan Bronze Short Sword
CIRCA 1000 B.C.
16 1/2 in. (421 grams, 42 cm).
The blade with a tapering profile, triangular in overall form, with slender shoulders, penannular guard with strong midrib, flanged hilt with crenellated grip, widening slightly into a fan-shaped pommel, cracked.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. similar sword in Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, cat.12, for a similar weapon.
FootnotesThese types of short sword or dirks were usually cast in one piece, and the penannular rib in relief was cast on at the same time with the handle of the blade. In some cases, however, the penannular rib was later cast on the dagger, possibly to strengthen a weak point at the junction of hilt and blade. The flanged hilt was originally inlaid with organic material such as bone.
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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Tudor Period Iron Dagger
16th century A.D. or laterEstimate: £80 - 100 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £40
Comprising a single cutting edge and tang. 155 grams, 28.5 cm
Acquired 1960s-1990s. Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister. -
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Medieval Iron Kidney Dagger
Late 15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
Featuring a wedge-shaped blade and a lobed handle; the hilt fitted with an iron plate bending down to form points on each side of the blade, pommel with a discoid brass plate decorated with an incised flower motif. 307 grams, 46 cm
Acquired 1960s-1990s. Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
The term 'ballock dagger' was used in medieval times to describe a dagger with a grip bearing a considerable resemblance to a phallic symbol. It was also called 'kidney dagger' during the Victorian times. The constant characteristic is the presence of two roundish and symmetrical bulbs at the guard, with the grip itself emerging upward between them and flaring slightly towards the top, sometimes being surmounted by a cap. -
Luristan Bronze Horse Bit
9th-8th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
The cheekpieces formed as winged deer with horns and small ears, a circular opening to the body for the bar to pass through, two loops and studs to the reverse; the bar with looped circular terminals. 543 grams, 17.5 cm
Ex old English collection. London art market, pre 2000. Property of a Lonodon, UK, gentleman.
The most admirable horse bits ever created by man are undoubtedly those from Luristan, a province which extended along the valleys that make up the central part of the Zagros mountains. Worked in cast bronze with the lost wax process, they almost always had a rigid cannon in round or square bars which were flattened and rolled up around themselves at the ends, but their exceptional feature were the figural side bars. The local metalsmiths, in a period of time between 1200 and 700 B.C. managed to create an infinite number of typologies: horses, oxen, ibex, roosters and various mythological animals.
