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LOT 1162
Western Asiatic Bronze Long Sword
2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
22 1/2 in. (470 grams, 57 cm).
Composed of a tanged and barbed blade with raised midrib to both faces, extending the full-length of the weapon. [No Reserve]
ProvenancePrivate UK collection, 1980s.
Ex London gallery.
Cf. MacGregor, A., Antiquities from Europe and the Near East in the collection of the Lord McAlpine of West Green, Ashmolean Museum, 1987, no.17.25 and 17.27, for the typology.
FootnotesIn the last ninety years many such tanged blades have been considered coming from centres of production of North-West Iran, like Amlash and Marlik. Without context an accurate dating is impossible, but the shape recalls the rapiers of Bronze Age or Early Iron Age.
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Roman Limestone Ballista Catapult Shot
1st-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £176
Suitable for use with an onager or other catapult-type siege weapon; with roughened, abrasive surface. 1.5 kg, 97 mm
Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector.
The operation of the onager (Latin for 'wild ass') is first mentioned in 353 A.D. by Ammianus Marcellinus in his Res Gestae and more fully in Vegetius's Epitoma Rei Militaris probably written in the reign of Emperor Theodosius I (378-395 A.D.). -
Iron Age Celtic La Tene III Sword
1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Accompanied by a scabbard with fragments of the slider; the sword with lentoid-section two-edged iron blade, tapering gently to a broad point; slightly bent square-section tang; the fragments of the scabbard show a broad, slender sheath with stepped lower end, the obverse face rolled over the edges to clasp the reverse plate; the suspension elements comprising a fragment of the transverse bars clasping the front and back plates connected to vertical flared straps with a stepped slider-loop to the centre, once framed by two more similar bars with vertical straps forming a hollow square in which the slider-loop sits; mounted on a wall display mount. 1.5 kg total, 87 cm
Private collection, Munich, Germany, 1970s. Private collection, London, UK, 2014, acquired from the above.
Celtic swords of this period were longer, reaching one meter in length, with the tip having the tendency to be rounded, while the scabbards were less decorated or more simply ornamented than the swords of the previous period. -
Medieval Iron Single-Edged Dagger
15th-16th century A.D.Estimate: £120 - 170 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
The blade with a tapering, triangular cross-section and tang with rivet holes; wedge-shaped domed pommel. 131 grams, 31.5 cm
Acquired 1960s-1990s. From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister.
This is a weapon rather than a domestic knife, and is depicted as a sidearm for soldiers and knights alike in various iconography. This type of dagger was in use from the 14th to mid 16th century, and this example finds similarities with Hauswehrs used in the Eastern Europe during the 15th-16th century A.D.
