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LOT 1759
Medieval Iron Knife with Bronze Pommel
CIRCA 1500 A.D.
8 in. (49 grams, 20.2 cm).
Comprising a single cutting edge, scale tang and bifacial pommel with incised motifs.
ProvenanceAcquired 1960s-1990s.
Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
Cf. Marquardt, K., Eight Centuries of European Knives, Forks and Spoons: an Art Collection, Europe, 1997, pp.28-32, for type.
FootnotesIn the medieval knives, the tang could be attached to the tang in two ways depending on the the form of the tang. Whittle-tang knives have a tapered tang which is inserted into or through the handle. Scale-tang knives have wider and flatter tangs onto which the plates comprising the handle are attached with metal rivets.
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LOT 1759
Medieval Iron Knife with Bronze Pommel
Estimate £200 - 300€230 - 350 (for guidance only)$270 - 410 (for guidance only)
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Medieval Iron Artefact Group
14th-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £52
Comprising rowel spurs; cutlery; horse shoes; knives, implements and other miscellaneous items. 3.9 kg total, 5-31 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection. -
Medieval Knight's Heraldic Horse Harness Pendant
14th-15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
Heater-shaped with high-relief arms of three lions rampant and an enamelled label, cadency mark for the eldest son. 3.82 grams, 39 mm
Found Romney Marsh area, 2023. Property of a Kent gentleman.
The arms 'three lions rampant' has been used by several families. The Dering Roll includes Willem le Genne, Nicole le Gras, and Grimbald Pauncefoot with such arms. -
'The Kirkleavington' Medieval Bronze Inscribed Purse Frame
15th-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,640
The bar with central D-shaped block pierced vertically by a stud surmounted by the suspension loop, with four pierced flanges to the underside; the frame in two sections, the larger a U-shaped rod with pivot for the bar, the smaller pivoting within the inner face, both pierced on the inner face; the block inscribed to one face with capital S and to the other with intersecting Vs; the bar inscribed to one face in capitals 'A DOMINI TECVM' and to the other in coarsely incised capitals 'AVEMARIA G[R]ACIAPLE[NA]'; the smaller rod inscribed in capitals 'CREATOREN CELI ET TERRE ET IN [IES]VN'; the larger inscribed with a band of scrolled decoration and the text in Lombardic capitals 'SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA'; the accompanying letter discusses the texts (1) Ave Maria G[r]acia ple[n]a Dominus Tecum 'Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord [is] with thee'; (2) Soli Deo Honor et Gloria 'Honour and glory to God alone'; (3) Creatorem celi et terrae et inferum 'creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus'. The intersecting Vs may form a monogram for A[ve] M[aria]; the 1847 letter describes the findspot as 'found at Kirkleavington near Yarm in the sill of a brook' in the North Riding of Yorkshire. 183 grams, 20.7 cm
Found at Kirkleavington near Yarm, North Riding of Yorkshire, UK, in 1847. Accompanying label describes it as ‘found in constructing the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, near Kirkleavington, Co. York. Communicated by John Bourne, Esq. Engineer to the Company, Leeds’. Accompanied by a manuscript letter of September 17th 1847 from Mr Histon Longstaffe discussing the text, with later amendments date 1854. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by searcher certificate no. 200593.
Metal purse frames of this type were a luxury personal accessory of late Middle Ages and early Renaissance period (about 1450-1500). They were decorated with niello. In this technique the metalworker engraved a pattern or design onto highly polished metal and filled the incised lines with a hard black alloy. Religious inscriptions were incised to invoke the divine protection. A fragmentary purse-frame in the MOL [ID 4452] containing this same portion of the Apostles Creed enables us to correct the 19C reading INFERVN to IN IESVN ('in Jesus')
