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LOT 1465
Roman 'Consular' Lead Slingshot
1ST CENTURY B.C.
1 3/8 in. (38 grams, 36 mm).
Fusiform shot with casting nipple at each end, low-relief legend 'COS' to one face and traces of letters on the other. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a London antiquarian, formed since the 1980s.
LiteratureCf. D'Amato, R. and Sumner, G., Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier: From Marius to Commodus, 112 BC-AD 192, London, 2009, fig.32, p.45, for a similar glandes from Zaragoza Museum, from Munda battlefield.
FootnotesThe shot (Völling type 1C) is marked with the abbreviation COS, meaning CO(N)S(UL), the highest military magistrate of the Roman Res Publica. The projectiles were made of different materials: lead (glandes) or pottery or stone (lapides missiles).
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