Medieval Iron Adze with Maker's Marks

Composed of a cylindrical stem with expanded upper body and facetted bulbous head, the opposite terminal formed as three vertical ribs forming a roughly triangular cross-section. 3.53 grams, 15.5 cm



European collection, 1990s. Property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman.

Or a leg ring inscribed '+Earle of Rutland' in derivative black letter script, for a female merlin or sparrow hawk (due to the youth of Edmund Plantagenet who died aged 17); the ring with a convex interior face. 0.56 grams, 8 mm



Acquired in the 1960s. Ex Bursnall collection, Leicestershire, UK. From the collection of a North American gentleman.

Unique and with links to royalty and the Wars of the Roses. Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland was executed after the Battle of Wakefield (probably by John Clifford) and was the son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (a great-grandson of Edward III, father of Edward IV and one of the most powerful English magnates during the Wars of the Roses between the Yorkists and Lancastrians). The first Earl of Rutland was Edmund Plantagenet (grandson of Edward III and executed following the Southampton Plot against Henry V), uncle to Richard. The Earldom of Rutland has historically been closely linked to the Duchy and House of York.

Stamped to the underside of the head; oblong socket. 993 grams, 21 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.