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LOT 1041
Roman Stone and Lead Sling Shot Group
2ND CENTURY A.D.
1 3/4 - 2 1/4 in. (121 grams total, 47-58 mm).
Comprising two lentoid-section, one a lead glans, and another in stone. [2, No Reserve]
ProvenanceEx Simmons Gallery, London E11, UK, in the 1990s.
From a North London collection.
Cf. Marchant, D.J., Roman weaponry in the province of Britain from the second century to the fifth century AD, Durham, 1991, fig.26, for similar; Schinco, G., Small, A.M., 'A previously unknown siege of Botromagno/Silvium: the evidence of slingshots from Gravina in Puglia (Provincia di Bari, Puglia)' in Papers of the British School at Rome, 2019, pp.1-52, figs.36, 37.
FootnotesBoth the missiles seem to be of ovoid type, type Ia of the Völling classification. The pair finds parallels with examples unearthed at Ham Hill, Somerset, UK. The sling (funda) with its lead missiles (plumbea pondera or glandae) and stone (lapides) was used by special funditores, illustrated on Trajan’s Column where they are simply dressed in broad tunics with no armour, but carry a shield. A fold in their cloak, or sagulum, acted as an ammunition bag. The effectiveness of the slingers was unquestionable and much appreciated, especially against elephants. Celsus, writing towards the end of the 2nd century A.D., described how a slingshot wound was more dangerous and harder to treat than one inflicted by an arrow.
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Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowheads, Javelin Heads and Daggers
3rd millennium-7th century B.C.Estimate: £180 - 240 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £90
Comprising ten slender tanged arrowheads, javelin heads and daggers, some lozenge-section and some with raised midribs. 329 grams total, 14-21.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
Most of these blades are bipartite, but the definition of the bipartite type is not absolute as it brings together weapons of very different and unrelated designs. In fact, some weapons do not have a sufficiently characteristic shape to be interpreted as a spear, dagger, or long arrowhead. The javelin heads classified by Gernez as type Type L 3 are characterized by the simplicity of their design. They have a sharp and/or pointed active part, a flat, elliptical or rhomboidal cross-section and an elongated tang with a rectangular, square or circular section, ending in a pointed, widened, curved or folded blade. -
Scythian Iron Akinakes Sword with Decorations
4th century B.C.Estimate: £1,500 - 2,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £750
Of Central Asian typology, strong hilt and narrow ogival guard with Steppe style ornamentation, tipped hilt, triangular tapering blade fitted with a central triangular blood channel with sixteen grooves. 481 grams, 58.5 cm
Ex private collection of Mr M.B., Mainz, Germany, since the 1980s. Acquired from the above, 2004.
The akinakes was a characteristic Scythian type of weaponry, which was used throughout their history (7th-3rd centuries B.C.). With the departure of the Scythians from the steppe in the 3rd century B.C., and the appearance of the Sarmatian tribes in the Northern Black Sea region in the 2nd-1st centuries B.C., Sarmatian types of bladed weapons spread in the region. This particular shape of akinakes belongs to the nomadic cultures of Central Asia. -
Pre-Achaemenid Bronze Short Sword with Bifurcated Pommel
Circa 8th century B.C.Estimate: £3,000 - 4,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,400
The blade with mid-rib divided in five vertical lines, emerging from the mouth of two stylised lion-heads, the eyes recessed to accept red inlay; the grip and upper part of the blade with incised spiral decoration; the ribbed pommel with twin roundels, each decorated with a recessed six-petalled rosette, traces of red pigment still visible. 665 grams, 50 cm
Ex old English collection. London art market, pre 2000. Property of a London, UK, gentleman. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11974-210547.
Examples of swords and daggers with the guard in the form of addorsed animal heads with the blade projecting from the mouths are known from Assyrian reliefs (for example on the orthostats from Tell al Rimah).
