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.

Literature

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

CONDITION

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LOT 1722