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Lot 238

1 May 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

£5,000 - £8,000

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Two European bronze swords
Late Bronze Age, circa 900 B.C.
The larger leaf-shaped blade with pronounced central ridge with two grooves to either side at the tip, with two notches above the wings of the hilt-plate, the hilt pierced with four rivet-holes, terminating in a faint 'fish tail' tang, 23in (58.5cm) long; the shorter with a stepped central ridge, with a single notch above the hilt plate, the hilt pierced with three rivet holes, 18¾in (48cm) long (2)

Footnotes

Provenance:
Swiss art market, acquired in the 1990s.

Literature:
This type of sword blade was particularly common in Northern Europe at the end of the Bronze Age. For similar examples found in Great Britain, cf. J. Manley, Atlas of Prehistoric Britain, Oxford, 1989, p.137, pl.88.

Additional information

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