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LOT 1181
Luristan Short Sword Blade
EARLY 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
12 5/8 in. (285 grams total, 32 cm wide including stand).
Triangular with thick rectangular-section midrib, rounded shoulders, narrow tip, short tang with hole for fixing pin for the organic grip; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1980s-1990s.
From the H.N. collection, Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, UK.
Cf. Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 1, London, 2002, p.34, no.31.
FootnotesThis tanged bronze blade from Luristan belongs to a category of Luristan swords still in use in the Achaemenid Period, as proved by a blade with a perished handle (probably bone or wood) of the same type, in the National Museum of Iran (2694/15633). Examples without inscriptions like our model have been classified by Grotkamp-Schepers in the Solingen Museum as pieces from Luristan.
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AUCTIONS:
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Viking Age and Later Iron Axehead Group
12th-18th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Mainly comprising socketted axeheads and hammer-butt adzes, together with other weapons. 9.5 kg total, 16-23.5 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.
On type of axehead here presented, with similar specimens found in the territories of the Teutonic Order, was by far the most popular form of axe which remains unchangeable and continues to be used in the Baltic to this day. It appears in East European territories as early as the mid 13th century A.D. -
Ummayad Bronze Spearhead
7th-8th century A.D.Estimate: £250 - 350 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £133
Formed with a broadly triangular blade, narrow neck and tapering round-section socket. 245 grams, 34 cm
Ex old English collection. The Kusmirek Collection, UK.
The basic Arabic term for a spear or lance, whether used by cavalry or infantry, was rumh. In the 7th century it normally would have been ten or twelve cubits long, i.e. four and a half metres. -
Heavy Western Asiatic Leaf-Shaped Spearhead
14th-10th century B.C.Estimate: £600 - 800 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £300
The leaf-shaped ovate blade with rounded, gently curved shoulders and raised midrib, flat rectangular-sectioned tang tapering to a sharply bent end with a fastening button. 844 grams, 46.2 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
Similar spearheads were excavated in the Marlik Royal cemetery by Dr Negahban, see for example in tomb 47, Trench XXIIE. They were the evolution of a typology which began much earlier in Mesopotamia and the fertile crescent, the type 4 of the Stronach classification, with straight tang and square section, usually thickened at the base with a button tang. The foliate blade was wide and exaggerated in some specimens excavated at Marlik.
