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LOT 1086
Viking Age Iron Socketted Spearhead
10-11TH CENTURY A.D.
16 in. (313 grams, 40.7 cm).
Type M with rhomboid blade with straight edges, ending in squared angles at the base and narrowing as it merges into the round cross-section socket.
ProvenanceEx private collection of Mr M.B., Mainz, Germany, since the 1980s.
Acquired from the above, 2004.
Cf. D'Amato, R., 'The Betrayal: military iconography and archaeology in the Byzantine paintings of XI-XV centuries AD representing the arrest of Our Lord' in Acts of the International conference ‘Weapons bring peace? Warfare in Medieval and Early Modern Europe’, Wroclaw, 2-4 December 2010, Wroclaw, 2012, pp.69-95, fig.18; Hjardar, K. and Vike, V., Vikings at war, Oxford-Philadelphia, 2016, pp.175-180.
FootnotesThis type of spears account for half of the found Viking spears, together with types I,K,G,F. Differently from the previous types of Viking spearheads, side wings do not feature commonly in these typologies. A Viking spear of M type, dated at end of 11th century A.D., was found on the Drastar battlefield, showing a cross intermediary between the blade and the shaft.
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Elamite Bronze Crescentic Axehead
Mid 3rd millennium B.C.Estimate: £180 - 240 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £90
With slender tubular socket, horizontal upper cheek and curved lower one, scooped profile to blade with convex cutting edge. 333 grams, 12.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. -
Amlash Type Bronze Spearhead
13th-12th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Showing a long tapering blade with rounded shoulders and prominent mid-rib, the tang straight and rectangular in section. 411 grams, 40.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
The weapon belongs to the type 1 of the Khorasani spearhead classification, mainly from the Marlik or Amlash areas. Similar pieces have been dated by Stutzinger to 1200-1100 B.C., but the period of use is attested to at least until 1000 B.C. -
Eastern Roman Tinned Bronze Composite Belt Mount
8th century A.D.Estimate: £100 - 140 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
Displaying openwork floriate decoration within a tongue-shaped frame; two pierced attachment lugs to the rear. 27.9 grams, 93 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
The belt is of composite type, decorated with scrollwork in Byzantine style. Many authors discuss the possibility that these belts were produced in the Eastern Roman capital or that they were made in the workshops of the Avar Khaganate, maybe with Roman matrices for producing sheet ornaments.
