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LOT 0299
Scythian Iron Akinakes Sword with Decorations
4TH CENTURY B.C.
23 in. (481 grams, 58.5 cm).
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.
ProvenanceEx private collection of Mr M.B., Mainz, Germany, since the 1980s.
Acquired from the above, 2004.
See Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, in Russian, see pl.VIII, no.53, for a similar sword; cf. Meliukova, A.I., Vooruzhenie skifov. Moskva: Nauka Svod arheologicheskih istochnikov, Moscow, 1964, pl.18,10, for a near identical sword from Sofievska.
FootnotesThe 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.
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LOT 0299
Scythian Iron Akinakes Sword with Decorations
Estimate £1,500 - 2,000€1,740 - 2,320 (for guidance only)$2,030 - 2,700 (for guidance only)
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Elamite Ceremonial Axe with Silver Sleeve
3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £12,000 - 17,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £6,000
With later sheet-silver sleeve to the shaft, attached with ball-headed rivets; gilt dome finial to each end, the lower one in a gusseted collar. 750 grams, 45.5 cm
Acquired in 1996. Ex Samad Khameneh collection. Private Swiss collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11647-199005.
The axe belongs typologically to Type 4 of Maxwell-Hyslop’s classification, with a long and thin shaft narrowing towards the base. When technical developments resulted in heavier axe-blades, it was necessary to prolong the socket into a shaft tube and to cut away the underside of the blade where it joined the shaft. The edge of the blade was curved and this shifted the point of impact of the cutting edge. -
Roman Bronze Armour Segments
2nd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
Comprising four interlocking tongue-shaped segments from a lorica squamata; each with double piercing on the top and the two side edges. 4.4 grams, 45 mm
Ex North American private collection. Acquired privately on the European art market in the 1990s. Property of a Buckinghamshire, UK, gentleman. -
Luristan Bronze Short Sword
Circa 1000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
The blade with a tapering profile, triangular in overall form, with slender shoulders, penannular guard with strong midrib, flanged hilt with crenellated grip, widening slightly into a fan-shaped pommel, cracked. 421 grams, 42 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
These types of short sword or dirks were usually cast in one piece, and the penannular rib in relief was cast on at the same time with the handle of the blade. In some cases, however, the penannular rib was later cast on the dagger, possibly to strengthen a weak point at the junction of hilt and blade. The flanged hilt was originally inlaid with organic material such as bone.
