Luristan Bronze Sword Blade

Comprising a broad, double-edged blade with rounded tip, shallow central fuller to the upper third of both sides; flat guard with stepped central panel, D-section arms formed in a horizontal S-curve, 'cat's head' truncated type pommel with an integral central boss to both faces; the tang with a sword-shaped stamp, the blade with an inlaid three-armed workshop mark and another stamp, including a V surmounted by a cross. 1.37 kg, 1.18 m

Restored and protected with a possible vertical suspension in acid solution, on the blade traces of delamination and flaking along the pattern-welds, some corrosion damages but in general very good condition.

From an English collection, acquired 1990s. The Kusmirek Collection, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11771-203963.

The Schiavonesca sword was used by Dalmatian mercenaries serving in the Venetian state armies, and were produced by the workshops of the Serenissima to which the marks probably belong. Many of these swords were produced in Dubrovnik, a Croatian city under the Venetian rule. Dr Aleksić mentions the swordsmith Radonja Vukotić, who made an agreement with blacksmith Andrija Miletin at the beginning of September 1436, to produce swords together in the following year.

With foliate head and short tubular socketted shaft. 119 grams, 15 cm



Ex German collection, Cologne, 1980-1990s.

Snodgrass assigns the Athenian iron spearheads to the type A, i.e. spearheads with a leaf-shaped blade, a long socket and a midrib running to the tip. The bronze ones were assigned to typologies C – small, with a leaf-shaped blade (like the present specimen) - and D – with the socket as long as the blade, rounded shoulders and pronounced midrib. Both socket types were beaten round a cylindrical bar, a conservative method to produce bronze sockets even if the head was in iron.

Featuring a distinctively shaped ring at the end of the grip, double-edged relatively short blade and a tapered tip. 376 grams, 58 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

This kind of sword - called by modern scholars as ringknaufschwert or ring-pommel sword - was firstly diffused amongst the auxiliary troops, probably Sarmatians and Germans, and then, during the 2nd century A.D., was also commonly used amongst the milites legionis and the officers. The shape of their blades is similar to the Pompey typology, but a slightly less acute angle characterises the passage from the blade to the short point. There were longer specimens like spatha, opening the transformation of the legionary gladius in the longer spatha specimens of the successive period, and also shorter specimens. An important dating element for earlier specimens is the sword from the Matrica grave, in Pannonia, dated exactly to 147 A.D. based on the other grave goods. Specimens of the second half of 2nd century A.D. are known from Wehringen and Geneva (180 A.D.). A specimen from Bosnia could be chronologically assigned to the same period, although such kind of swords became much more widespread for infantry and cavalry in later times. However, the importance of such swords has been recently associated with the rank of the provincial officers who used them, including miniature variations of such swords used as pendants as insignia badge of the staff of the Provincial governors. It was connected with the image of the sword and the dagger as a symbol of the Imperial power.