Details

LOT 0303

Migration Period Iron Sword with Garnet and Shell Cross Guard with Gold and Amber Sword Bead

5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.

3/4 - 39 3/8 in. (970 grams total, 2-100 cm).

Eastern Roman or Germanic cavalry spatha with a parallel-sided blade and broad pointed tip, long tang; the trapezoidal lower guard with a gilt chip-carved plate divided in segments set with garnets to one side, each end with a shell disc set with a central garnet cabochon; accompanied by a strap from the scabbard and an amber sword bead with a beaded gold setting with a garnet cabochon. [4]

Provenance

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12012-213600.

Literature

Cf. Behmer, E., Das zweischneidige Schwert der germanischen Völkerwanderungszeit, Stockholm, 1939; Lebedinsky, I., Armes et guerriers barbares au temps des grandes invasions, Paris, 2001; Périn P., Kazanski, M., ‘La tombe de Childéric, le Danube et la Méditerranée’ in Villes et campagnes en Neustrie, (Europe médiévale, 8) Montagnac, 2007, pp.29-38; Spier, J., Treasures of the Ferrell collection, Wiesbaden, 2010.

Footnotes

The western spatha of the 4th-6th centuries was developed in a context that one can qualify as Romano-Germanic. Certain characteristics of the future Merovingian sword were already present in late Roman swords. It is quite natural that Type IV swords have been found in the countries conquered or settled by the Goths in southern, central and western Europe.