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LOT 1539
Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowhead Collection
2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
2 - 6 3/4 in. (260 grams total, 5-17 cm).
Comprising fourteen tanged arrowheads, mainly barbed and leaf-shaped types. [14]
ProvenanceEx London, UK, collection, 1990s.
LiteratureCf. for similar arrowheads Muscarella, O.W., Bronze and Iron Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, pp.289ff, nos. 396,407; Khorasani, M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran - The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, nos. 467,470.
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LOT 1539
Western Asiatic Bronze Arrowhead Collection
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£50 (EUR 58; USD 68) +BP*
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Luristan Bronze Dagger
13th century B.C.Estimate: £1,000 - 1,400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £500
With a lentoid-section blade, tongue-shaped in plan, with an integral tapering hilt with flared finial, lateral flanges to accept the remains of a panel of cream-coloured stone to each face which would have formed the grip. 255 grams, 32.7 cm
Acquired on the UK art market, 1990s. Private collection, New York, USA.
The art of Luristan can be described as the art of nomadic herdsmen and horsemen with an emphasis on the crafting of small, easily portable objects, among these a great number of bronze weapons. The rich and noble aristocrats of Luristan, Elamites, Hurrians, Lullubians, Kutians, and Kassites went to battle splendidly equipped and wore magnificent bronze armour, using maces, spears and daggers as offensive weapons, alongside spears, bows and arrows. -
Celtic Iron Open Socketted Splayed Axehead
Late Hallstatt-Early La Tene Period, circa 450 B.C.Estimate: £50 - 70 (+bp*)
Bids: 1 | Current Bid: £5
Flaring blade with a rectangular-section folded socket. 155 grams, 84 mm
Ex M. Spiegelberg collection, since 1989-1992; thence by descent. Accompanied by a copy of a previous yellow cataloguing slip. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Estimate: £80 - 100 (+bp*)
Bids: 1 | Current Bid: £5
Piriform body with dome filler-hole; intended to be filled with explosive liquid and a wick, and used as a hand grenade. 536 grams, 12.7 cm
From an important specialist collection, London, UK, 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.