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Back to previous pageLOT 2133
Sold for (Inc. bp): £13,640
1ST-2ND CENTURY AD
26 1/4" (818 grams, 68.5cm).
A gladius short sword with lentoid-section forge-welded parallel-sided blade tapering at about four-fifths of the length to an acute point; the wooden lower guard D-shaped in profile with a bronze plaque beneath where the tang enters; bone grip, square in section with five raised ribs; lentoid-section D-shaped wooden pommel with collared bronze knop.
PROVENANCE:
Property of a North Yorkshire gentleman; acquired before 1975.
LITERATURE:
Cf. James, S. Excavations at Dura Europos 1928-1937. VII The Arms, Armour and Other Military Equipment, London, 2004, fig.87 for the complete sword; Chapman, E.M. A Catalogue of Roman Military Equipment in the National Museum of Wales, BAR British Series no.388, Oxford, 2005, Ab07 for a similar carved bone grip.
FOOTNOTES:
The pommel is made in one piece and shows no signs of the tightening wedges normally used to secure it around the tang. The blade is forge-welded from iron billets, and shows the characteristic 'wavy' effect in the surface.
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