LOT 0231

Migration Period Spatha Sword Blade with Fittings

CIRCA 4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.

2 - 32 in. (937 grams total, 5-81.3 cm).

A military assemblage comprising: a double-edged spatha with a lentoid parallel-sided iron blade and pointed tip, battle nicks to both cutting edges; long tang with a bronze fastening rivet in situ; oblate chalcedony pommel; gilt copper-alloy chape scabbard fitting with fastening holes and a pair of round scabbard or baldric fittings. [4, No Reserve]

Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.

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 a search certificate number no.11587-198852.

Cf. Lebedinski, I., Armes et guerriers Barbares au temps des grandes invasions IVème au Vième siècle après J.C., Paris, 2001, pp.117ff.; Kazanski, M.M., “Парадные” мечи эпохи Великого переселения народов на Боспоре Киммерийском’ ("Ceremonial" swords of the era of the Great Migration of People in the Cimmerian Bosporus, in Russian), in Bosporos Studies / Боспорские Исследования, 2022, 44, pp.177-201, figs.3, 7, no.1, for similar scabbard and fitting parts.

Prestigious swords with richly trimmed sheaths, guards and hilts of the Great Migration Period on the Cimmerian Bosphorus are very few, although some specimens have been excavated from Kerch, Phanagoria, Hermonassa and Dzhurga-Oba. They were either custom-made or received as war booty. This sword belongs to a group of spathae of late Roman typology spread among the Germanic and Nomad foederati, and garrison troops of the Northern Black Sea and Bosphorus.