Post Medieval Iron Poleaxe with Wooden Handle

GERMANY OR ENGLAND, 16TH CENTURY A.D.

55 3/8 in. (1.75 kg, 140.5 cm).

With a broad, flaring triangular-section blade extending to a curved edge with carination to its rear, pointed extension to the reverse of the socket; the blade decorated with openwork floral and vegetal patterns; mounted on a wooden shaft.

Provenance

Acquired from Lyon & Turnbull, UK, in 2013.
From a large West London collection formed from the 1990s.

Literature

Cf. a similar English 16th-century war-axe in Hart, H.H., Weapons and Armour, A Pictorial Archive of Woodcuts & Engravings, New York, 1978, p.12.

Footnotes

This is a war weapon issued to infantry, intended for use against cavalry. The distinctive openwork blade suggests it was a standard-issue weapon, not for an occasional use.

CONDITION

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LOT 1783