Western Asiatic Iron Dagger with Bronze Hilt

With three adjoining bull heads in high-relief to the top, with three ears and three horns serving all three heads; the horns curving towards the rim of the closed top; the shaft adorned with vertical rows of pointed spikes; hollow socket tube with ring collar at the base; mounted on a collector base. 443 grams total, 18 cm including stand



London, UK gallery, 1971-early 2000s. Private collection, London. 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.11997-22061.

Piriform in profile with a domed mouth and stepped neck, raised vertical lugs on the body, linear decoration; intended to be filled with explosive liquid and a wick, and used as a hand grenade. 511 grams, 15.4 cm



From a specialist collection, London, UK, 1990-2000s.

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.

Double-edged cutting sword of Petersen type A with a finely tapering blade, showing pattern-welding; upper and lower guards with strongly curved sides; the cross-guard boat-shaped with an acute tapering tang; the pommel attached with two nails to the original boat-shaped upper guard. 809 grams, 85.5 cm



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. 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. 13064-249347.

Petersen originally individuated eight examples of this sword’s typology, one of the first categories of Viking swords, although these swords were also widely used in the Carolingian Empire and widespread among the Italic population as well (frescoes from the Necropolis of S.Andrea Priu, Sardegna, 8th or 9th century AD), where specimens are still attested in the 10th century A.D (D’Amato-Salimbeti, 2020, p.23). The evenly wide, three-sided pommel, narrower than the guard, was the most characteristic element of such swords, and in some cases it was divided into three segments, or even seven segments (swords from Neri, Opstryn s., Stryn, Nordfjord). Thes tend to be confused with the similar pommels of the swords of H typology (Petersen, 1919, pp.89ff.), but in these latter swords the guards are wider and with an elliptical cross-section.