Viking Age Bronze Fire Steel with Figure and Animals

8TH-10TH CENTURY A.D.

2 3/8 in. (58 grams, 60 mm).

With openwork bifacial handle depicting central standing figure with arms outstretched towards the necks of two flanking rampant beasts; iron blade beneath; Finno-Ugric type.

Provenance

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Literature

See Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, pl.144, item 1, for type.

CONDITION

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LOT 1645