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Details
LOT 1870
Viking Age Bronze Firesteel with Storks
9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
2 1/2 in. (47 grams, 65 mm).
Openwork bifacial handle from a firesteel formed as two swans with recurved necks flanking a ropework column; slot to underside to accept the ferrous insert. [No Reserve]
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 Cacciandra, V. & Cesati, A., Fire Steels, Turin, 1996; Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, pl.144, item 1, for type.
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