Viking Age Iron Long Bearded Axe Head

CIRCA 10TH-12TH CENTURY A.D.

5 3/4 in. (603 grams, 14.5 cm).

With broad curved blade and short spur beneath the chin, narrow neck, deep socket with extended edge to the reverse. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Literature

Cf. Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, pl.14, item 3; Kirpichnikov, A.N., Drevnerusskoe Oruzie, II, Moscow-Leningrad, 1966, in Arkheologiia SSSR, vol. E1-36, especially axes nos.1,5, from Веськово and Селибка (pl.XIII), and no.6 (pl.XXII) from Гусева Гора; Sedov, B.B., Finno-Ugri i Balti v Epokhi Srednevekovija, Moscow, 1987, pl V, items 16, 17, 20; pl.CXXIV, item 1.

Footnotes

The axe seems to be a variation of type IV of the Kirpichnikov classification of the Eastern Rus Axes typology. These axes appeared in the 10th century, and continued in the 10th-11th century.

CONDITION

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LOT 1670