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Details
LOT 0744
Roman Decorated and Inscribed Animal Hilt
3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.
4 3/8 in. (87 grams, 11 cm).
Openwork rectangular bifacial dagger- or knife-hilt with lobe pommel and blade-socket; Side A: two rectangular openwork panels, above an inverted openwork inscription 'VTERE FELIX' and below two opposed running hounds; Side B: two opposed running hounds above inverted inscription: 'CONSTANTI' (use [this] with good fortune for Constantine).
Provenance
Private collection 1990s.
Ex London, UK, gallery.
Literature
See Bishop, M.C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman Military Equipment From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome, London, 1993, p.219, for discussion.
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