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LOT 0296
Villanovan Bronze Helmet
8TH CENTURY B.C.
12 in. (1.7 kg, 30.5 cm wide).
With rounded bowl and flared rim; three sets of paired piercings for attachment of leather cheek-flaps; cracked.
ProvenanceAcquired early 1990s.
Ex private American collection; thence by descent.
Private European collection since 1998.
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.11573-199009.
Cf. Coussin, P., Les Armes Romaines, Paris, 1926; Connolly, P., Greece and Rome at War, London, 1981; Fossati, I., Etruscan Armies, Milano, 1987, p.50, fig.4; Egg, M., 'Italische Helme mit krempe' in Antike Helme, RGZM Monographien 14, Mainz, 1988, pp.222ff., figs.1, 2, 34 and items 58-59, for type; Sekunda, N., and Northwood, S., Early Roman Armies, Oxford, 1995; Connolly, P., Greece and Rome at War, London, 2006; D'Amato, R., Salimbeti, A., The Etruscans, Oxford, 2018, pp.21ff. and pl.B3; D’Amato, R., Negin, A., Decorated Roman Armour, London, 2017, pp.8ff. and fig.2.
FootnotesThe ‘pot’ or ‘bell’ helmet, found in contexts as early as the 8th century coffer grave (ad arca) from the Esquiline (Rome) and other graves (Coussin, 1926, p.88, fig.23; Sekunda, Northwood,1995, p.6, grave 94) was made from a single piece of bronze, while later Italic variants were fashioned from jointed plates (Connolly, 1981, p.102, figs.2-2a; Egg, 1988, p.223, variant Vetulonia). The skull was somewhat spherical, with a flared rim: in some Etruscan and Italic specimens, this was rivetted for strength.
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LOT 0296
Villanovan Bronze Helmet
Estimate £8,000 - 10,000€9,280 - 11,600 (for guidance only)$10,800 - 13,500 (for guidance only)
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Western Asiatic Spiked Bronze Macehead Group
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £2,500 - 3,500 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,350
Comprising: one with two unaligned rows, each with four horizontal spikes, topped by a tooth helping to secure the mace to a wooden shaft; the second with a long socket and a row of six spikes, three pointed and three rounded, double tipped edge for securing the shaft; the third with six horizontal spikes; all with solid heads and hollow tubular sockets; of North-West Iranian typology. 1.35 kg total, 10-15 cm
Acquired from Artemis Gallery, Munich in 1995. European private collection. 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 number no.11997-211853.
A variety of similar bronze mace heads have been recovered in Hasanlu and Marlik, mainly of spiked variety. Excavations at 8th-7th century B.C. War Kabud and Chamzhi-Mumah in Luristan have produced related types, with smaller spikes or knobs and with an elongated socket, like one of our examples. These spiked maces are a specifically Iranian type. In general, they were used from the 9th century B.C. although some scholars support the thesis of their use in the late 2nd-early 1st millennium based on finds from Marlik. -
Luristan Bronze Dirk
13th-12th century B.C.Estimate: £300 - 400 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £167
With lentoid-section blade, tongue-shaped in plan, integral tapering hilt with flared finial, lateral flanges to accept a panel of bone or wood to each face forming the grip. 174 grams, 34 cm
Ex Joseph J. Gancie (1923-2010), Washington, Silver Spring, Maryland. with Alex Cooper Auctioneers Inc., sale 1035, 27 January 2013, lot 162a.
The dirk belongs to the type III in the Medvedskaya classification, used in Near East from the 13th to the 6th century B.C. The type is the 32a of the Maxwell-Hyslop study. The Asiatic daggers of this type are confined to Syria and Persia, but Transcaucasia also provides an interesting analogy from Kalekent on the Baku peninsula, where a pointed straight-sided dagger blade has a flanged hilt with the whole of the side flanges bent over the centre. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
A spherical ceramic missile with stepped shoulder and impressed annulets, domed filler-hole, intended to be filled with explosive liquid and wick, used as a hand grenade. 494 grams, 12.5 cm
From a military inspired collection formed from the 1990s. 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'.
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.
