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Details
LOT 1083
Viking Period Bearded Axehead
CIRCA 9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
6 in. (422 grams, 15.2 cm).
A hand-forged iron axehead with triangular-section narrow blade widening to a broad bevelled edge with square chin, socket with lateral flanges and rectangular panel to the rear. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.
Literature
Cf. Thunmark-Nylén, L., Die Wikingerzeit Gotlands I.: Abbildungen der Graubfunde, Stockholm, 1992, plate 13, item 14.
Footnotes
The axe appears to belong to the typology of Viking side axes of Wheeler type B (Wheeler III / Rygh 559). Usually these bearded axeheads (skeggöks) had a longer edge, designed to split tree trunks into planks and beams, or heads during the battle. Some of the bearded axes were known as halfÞynna öx, the neck on such 'half thin axe' was thinly forged, to make it lighter.
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