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LOT 1413
Luristan Bronze Socketted Spearhead
13TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.
9 1/2 in. (155 grams, 24 cm).
With broad leaf-shaped blade and tapering tubular socket.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Overlaet, B., ‘Luristan metalwork in the Iron Age’ in Stöllner, T., Slotta, R. & Vatandoust, A., (eds.), Persiens Antike Pracht. Bergbau - Handwerk – Archäologie, Bochum, 2004, pp. 328-338, fig.7, p.335; Khorasani M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, pp.242-243.
FootnotesThe spear belongs to the type VIII classified by Khorasani (spearheads with well-projecting midribs and long folded sockets) and more specifically to subtype C (with leaf-shaped blade and short hollow socket). Usually the willow-leaf blade has an almost straight shoulder base and a wide, flat midrib tapering towards the point.
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LOT 1413
Luristan Bronze Socketted Spearhead
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
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Phoenician Bronze Arrowhead with Inscription
Circa 12th-11th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
With incised text to the midrib on one face, less well-defined characters to the reverse. 9.2 grams, 63 mm
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
The arrowhead seems to carry a Proto-Aramaic or Phoenician inscription like many arrows found in the Levant and Israel. They are usually reporting proper names like ‘Suwar, retainer of Abday’. As far as the function of these arrowheads is concerned, we know that the name inscribed on them was the owner's because successive owner's names were incised on two palimpsest examples. The letters engraved upon our arrow seem to be in the Phoenician alphabet and read ḤŞ’Ḥ’ (arrow of…) on the reverse, and ’Š I Š Q (?) (man of…) on the obverse. -
Stone Ballista Catapult Shot
Roman, 1st-3rd century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £26
Roughly spherical stone cobble with impact scar. 973 grams, 81 mm
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
The operation of the onager (Latin for 'wild ass') is first mentioned in 353 A.D. by Ammianus Marcellinus in his Res Gestae and more fully in Vegetius's Epitoma Rei Militaris probably written in the reign of Emperor Theodosius I (378-395 A.D.). -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £98
Piriform body with segmented shoulder and impressed roundels, domed filler-hole, intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 759 grams, 12 cm
From a specialist collection of militaria, London, UK, collected 1990s onwards. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'.
Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form.
