Luristan Bronze Spearhead

A nearly complete short-sleeved ring armour composed of interlocking links in the four-through-one formation with alternating rivetted rings. 4.71 kg, 65 x 75 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 a search certificate number no.13041-248010.

The rings are arranged in rows, and the links within the same row do not join. Instead, each ring connects to two rings in the row above and two in the row beneath. A great majority of all-rivetted mail comes from Southern Scandinavia and Northern Europe, notably Sweden, northern Germany and Poland. All-rivetted mail already occurs there during the Roman Iron Age, and continues into the Migration, the Vendel, and then the Viking periods. Rivetted rings were usually fabricated by shaping metal wire into a circle with the ends overlapping several mm. Here, the riveted rings seem to be of reshaped oval form.

A two-edged leaf-shaped blade and square-section tapering tang, on one side inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform text: 'Eulmaš-šākin-šumi'; and the other side inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform text: 'É-ul-maš-GAR-MU'; reading (property) 'Of Eulmash-shakin-shumi, king of the world'; there are now seventeen known examples compared to fourteen known in 1968. 9.37 grams, 66 mm



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. 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.13145-248307.

King Eulmash-shakin-shumi was the founder of the 6th Dynasty of Babylon, named the Bῑt-Bazi Dynasty after the Kassite tribal group from which its leaders were drawn. They were possibly situated near the juncture of the Diyala River and the Tigris River. There are discrepancies in the information surviving about his reign; whilst the Dynastic Chronicle states that he ruled for fourteen years, the King List A suggests a rule of seventeen years. The events leading to the king's rise to power unfolded in the context of the chaotic close of the Second Sealand Dynasty, and in the midst of the turmoil inflicted by the famine-induced Aramean migrations. During this period, Eulmaš-šākin-šumi appears to have seized the throne and possibly moved his capital to Kar-Marduk, a hitherto unknown location, and easily defensible. Upon his death, King Eulmash-shakin-shumi was buried in the Palace of Kar-Marduk, the dynastic capital. A 9th century stele relating to temple endowments at Sippar relates that the king restored food offerings to Shamash, and entrusted a garden plot in a part of Babylon known as the 'New City' to the then high priest there. The weapons unearthed with inscriptions such as the one offered here were likely votive, as opposed to military pieces.

A mixed group of lead musket and pistol ball. 2.31 kg total, 9-20 mm



Found Suffolk, UK. Property of a Suffolk, UK, gentleman.