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_900x900.jpg "Viking Iron Sword Pommel and Lower Guard")
_200x200.jpg "Viking Iron Sword Pommel and Lower Guard")
.jpg "Viking Iron Sword Pommel and Lower Guard")
LOT 0325
Viking Iron Sword Pommel and Lower Guard
10TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
3 - 3 5/8 in. (480 grams total, 77-92 mm).
Comprising: lower guard, lentoid in plan with recessed underside, slot to accept the tang; pommel with integral upper guard, Petersen's Type X with semicircular profile and raised upper section, slot for tang in the underside. [2]
ProvenanceLondon, UK, collection, formed in the late 1990s.
LiteratureCf. Peirce, I., Swords of the Viking Age, Woodbridge, 2002, p.120.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
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Mesopotamian Bronze Tanged Javelin
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With a foliate blade, rhomboidal in section, raised mid-rib, medium-length stem widening at its base and forming a small stop, rectangular-section tang with bent terminal. 194 grams, 46 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s.
The specimen belongs to the category of tripartite spears with a long, pointed biconvex blade and a single bevelled tang. They seem to be a Mesopotamian and Susian (Elamite) variant, and this type also includes decorated blades, like the spear from Tello with the inscription 'King of Kish'. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Spear Blade
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £200 - 300 (+bp*)
Current Winning Bid: £100
With an ovate blade, prominent central rib and rounded shoulders, square-section shaft with flared lateral spurs forming a collar, rectangular tang with narrow tip. 347 grams, 29.6 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s. -
Migration Period Iron Sword with Jewelled Hilt
5th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,980
Comprising: a spatha-type two-edged tapering blade, lentoid in section with sloped shoulders and short tang pierced by an attachment rivet for the grip; traces to both faces of the blade of wooden fibre from the scabbard; edges lightly notched but substantially complete; the lower guard rectangular in plan and scaphoid in section with inset garnet cloisons, triangular along the lower row and heart-shaped above, rectangular at the top, with small rectangular slivers at each end; accompanied by the upper roundel of the pommel, set with four garnet cloisons. 954 grams, 84.5 cm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no. 12357-225921. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
These ‘ceremonial’ swords (in reality widely used in battle) with an inlaid guard are, according to Kazanski, Late Roman in origin. The cloisonné decoration was probably linked with the production of particularly ornamented swords in the ateliers of the Roman capital of Constantinople. This typology of weapon was not only produced as a gift for foreign chiefs allied to the empire, but it was also adopted by the Imperial army, and reserved for the Imperial officers, who were often of Germanic or Asiatic origin.
