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LOT 1111
Marlik Type Bronze Decorated Spearhead
13TH-12TH CENTURY B.C.
17 in. (481 grams, 43 cm).
With a long blade, broad midrib, rectangular-section long tang, engraved reinforced shaft and rounded shoulders.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
Cf. Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tuebingen, 2006, p.633, Cat.286, inventory no.11485, of National Museum of Iran in Tehran.
FootnotesIn this category (Type II of the Khorasani typology) the blade has three fullers, and the shaft is usually engraved with diagonal lines. Similar spearheads were excavated by Dr Negahban in Marlik.
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LOT 1111
Marlik Type Bronze Decorated Spearhead
Estimate £300 - 400€350 - 460 (for guidance only)$410 - 540 (for guidance only)
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Roman Iron Anti-Cavalry Caltrop
3rd-4th century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £221
Composed of four arms tipped with triangular spikes. 24 grams, 73 mm
Acquired on the German art market around 2000s. From the collection of an EU gentleman living in the UK.
Caltrops were scattered on battlefields in an effort to stop or slow advancing enemy cavalry or foot soldiers; regardless of how a caltrop lands, one spike is always facing upwards. Caesar used widely them at Alesia (Caes., BG 7.73; 82): 'Stakes a foot long, with iron hooks attached to them, were entirely sunk in the ground before these, and were planted in every place at small intervals; these they called spurs'. -
Urartu Bronze Mace or Sceptre Head
9th-8th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £208
With cylindrical head and narrow flanged base, the head divided in four petals. 490 grams, 60 mm
Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a Ruislip, UK, gentleman, by inheritance.
Assyrian and Urartian officers are identified by their weapons in the reliefs. It is not so easy to definitely identify cavalry officers on the palace reliefs of the Assyrian kings, but their identification is based mainly on the context they appear in, and on some insignia (mace, sceptre) they carry with them. Hence, the mace was not only a practical weapon, but also a command insignia. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Axehead
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
With central socket and shaft; cutting blade set vertically at a right-angle; the short pick-adze blade arranged horizontally. 1.3 kg, 26 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
The earliest axe-adzes from the 3rd millennium B.C. were weapons and tools furnished with socket holes. Usually a socket was a more secure way of attaching the object to a wooden haft than having a tang. These weapons developed into a plethora of different forms in the 2nd millennium B.C., and the numerous new forms and were used until at least 800 B.C.
