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LOT 1423
Viking Socketted Iron Spearhead
9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
8 3/4 in. (162 grams, 22 cm long (229 grams total including stand)).
Leaf-shaped blade and tapering, round-section socket, pierced for attachment to a shaft; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceUK gallery, acquired in the 2000s.
Property of an English gentleman.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
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AUCTIONS:
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Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Cylindrical body with pointed tip and domed mouth; intended to be filled with explosive liquid and a wick, and used as a hand grenade. 820 grams, 14 cm
From an important specialist collection, London, UK, 1990s onwards. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form. -
Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Collection
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £130
Comprising leaf-shaped, triangular tanged and other types. 156 grams total, 47-92 mm
From a London collection, 1990s-2000. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato. -
Viking Age Iron Shallow Bearded Axehead
9th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
A hand-forged axehead with triangular-section narrow blade widening to a broad bevelled edge with square chin, socket with lateral flanges and rounded panel to the rear. 579 grams, 18 cm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The axe seems 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 in two parts. Some of the bearded axes were known as halfÞynna öx, the neck on such 'half thin axe' was thinly forged, to make it lighter.
