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LOT 1039
Luristan Copper Flat Axehead
13TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.
8 1/4 in. (112 grams, 20.8 cm).
Formed with a rounded butt and flared cutting edge; flat in cross-section.
ProvenanceUK private collection formed before 2000.
Ex North London, UK, gallery.
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LOT 1039
Luristan Copper Flat Axehead
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
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Viking Age and Later Axehead Group
Circa 11th-18th century A.D.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
Comprising socketted axeheads of various types; some possibly stamped with maker's marks. 7 kg total, 16-24.5 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Pre-Achaemenid Bronze Short Sword with Bifurcated Pommel
Circa 8th century B.C.Estimate: £3,000 - 4,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,400
The blade with mid-rib divided in five vertical lines, emerging from the mouth of two stylised lion-heads, the eyes recessed to accept red inlay; the grip and upper part of the blade with incised spiral decoration; the ribbed pommel with twin roundels, each decorated with a recessed six-petalled rosette, traces of red pigment still visible. 665 grams, 50 cm
Ex old English collection. London art market, pre 2000. Property of a London, UK, gentleman. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11974-210547.
Examples of swords and daggers with the guard in the form of addorsed animal heads with the blade projecting from the mouths are known from Assyrian reliefs (for example on the orthostats from Tell al Rimah). -
Hellenistic Bronze Armour Section with Herakles Fighting Hydra
Circa 4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
Comprising an embossed fragment of a breast-plate from muscle-type armour (thorax statos) representing Herakles fighting against the Hydra of Lerna; three-quarters of the hero's body preserved showing him naked in a dynamic position, wearing a fluttering short cloak (chlamys), overlooking the body of the monster of which the long tail covered with scales and fins is visible; fragment of cloak preserved separately. 122 grams total, 3.4-17.5 cm
Good portion of armour, extremely rare
Acquired on the French art market before 2000. From an EU collection before 2020.
This kind of armour is very rare, especially for this period, when most of the attested armour is plain or only slightly decorated. The young Herakles appears in heroic nudity running to the right, but, as on the cheek-piece from Gurlo, his head was probably turned in the opposite direction. The plasticism of the scene finds a good match in the Thracian tradition of the representation of weapons and armour, and the embossed elements with the highly prized work of the Panagyurishte treasure. The warrior-theme and the representation of Herakles or other fighting scenes on the Thracian and Hellenistic armours was a reference to the spirit of the immortal fighter.