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LOT 1569
Viking Age Iron Hook-Billed Axehead
CIRCA 9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
6 1/2 in. (347 grams, 16.5 cm).
Broad blade with thickened edge, rounded socket with lateral triangular extensions. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceEx North American collection, 1970s.
LiteratureCf. Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, pl.14(1); Sedov, B.B., Finno-Ugri i Balti v Epokhi Srednevekovija, Moscow, 1987, pl.CXXIV, item 4.
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AUCTIONS:
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Chinese Zhou Bronze Socketted Spearhead
Zhou Dynasty, 1046-256 B.C.Estimate: £450 - 650 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £250
With thick midrib, leaf-shaped blade with lateral spurs, deep tubular socket with fastening hole for the attachment to the wooden shaft. 250 grams, 32 cm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. -
Luristan Bronze Socketted Axehead
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
With triangular tappering blade and flat cutting edge, oval socket. 997 grams, 17 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s. -
Saxon Sacrificed Iron Spatha with Bronze Chape
5th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
Double-edged long sword (spatha) of type Osterburken-Kemathen; the blade with squared shoulders, broken into two parts for sacrificial reasons, tapering towards the point; sturdy tang partially preserved; wooden traces of the scabbard and hilt still visible; accompanied by a bronze outer rim of a scabbard; restored. 630 grams total, 78 cm long
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
The deliberate fragmentation of a sword, often into three pieces, was a symbolic act of ‘killing’ the weapon, which was then placed as a grave good or offered in a ceremonial context. This was a Germanic custom already visible in the Vandal Przeworsk culture around the 3rd or 4th century A.D., which continued in Northern European areas until the 5th and the 6th centuries A.D.
