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LOT 0257
Luristan Bronze Short Sword
2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
16 in. (303 grams, 40.5 cm).
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.
ProvenanceEx Abelita family collection, 1990s.
LiteratureCf. Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, items 41 and 42.
FootnotesThese 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.
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Merovingian Iron Pattern-Welded Sword
Circa 6th century A.D.Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £400
A double-edged spatha with a lentoid parallel-sided blade and pointed tip; evidence of battle nicks on both cutting edges; long tang and traces of wooden scabbard on the blade; signs of damask pattern running along the length of the blade, especially on the upper part; cleaned and conserved. 694 grams, 86.5 cm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12919-245174.
Usually the term ‘damascened’ is only used for blades, describing the way in which their individual rods are forged to create a desired pattern effect that remained visible on the surfaces of the finished product (technique B.II.1.2.). The shape and regularity of the pattern was essentially dependent on the number and nature of the individual rods and on the skills of the blacksmith. The scholars differentiate on this basis more or less careful and complicated variants (e.g. striped, diamond, herringbone, angular, rosette, mosaic, etc.), in which the individual rods from different iron lamellae, which are parallel or twisted (torsion pattern-welding), were built up often in connection with each other (technique B.II.1.2.1-2). Combining striped rods that were partially straight and partially twisted - clockwise or counter-clockwise - allowed the formation of a very decorative blade. -
Indo-Persian Enamelled Brass Shield Pair
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
Each with flange rim and four applied bosses to the face for attachment of the rear straps, design of reserved foliage, birds and harpies on an enamelled field. 996 grams total, 27.3 cm
Property of a Berkshire, UK, gentleman collector. -
Large Mahogany Telescope with Brass Fittings
19th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £124
Large wooden barrel with brass eyepiece and inner tube, marked in copperplate script 'T.Harris & Son, London / Day or Night'. 1.05 kg, 55 cm
From the private collection of author and historian Dr DeWitt Bailey, one of the global authorities on the confederate army in the US civil war; thence by descent to his grandson.
