British & European Bronze Age Antiquities for Sale
In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from circa. 2100 to 700 B.C. Immigration brought new people to the islands from continental Europe. Where the weather was once warm and dry it became much wetter as the bronze age continued, forcing the population away from easily defended sites in the hills and into the fertile valleys. Tin and copper was required for the production of Bronze, and Cornwall was a major source of tin for much of western Europe. Copper was extracted from sites such as the Great Orme mine in northern Wales.
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| | | Bronze Age 'Ribbed' Mace Head 023729 | Bronze Age 'Ribbed' Mace Head Bronze, 215 grams, 51 mm. Circa 1,200-500 BC. A heavy cast bronze mace head with eight vertical flanges. Very fine condition. Provenance: Cotton collection formed in the 1980's; found Eastern Europe. | £275.00  |  |
| | British Bronze Age 'Looped and Socketed' Spearhead 021445 | Extremely Rare British Bronze Age 'Looped and Socketed' Spearhead Copper-alloy, 30.49 grams, 101.11 mm. Circa 10th-5th century BC. A finely made cast spearhead with diamond-section midrib extending to lozengiform lateral blades. The midrib thickens to become the hollow socket; beneath the blades are integrally cast very fine (about 1mm) loops. The type is Greenwell and Brewis Class IV, similar to an example in Salisbury Museum from a tumulus at Coombe Bisset, Wiltshire. Reference: Moore, C.N. and Rowlands, M. Bronze Age Metalwork in Salisbury Museum, Salisbury, 1972 items 55, 56. Very fine condition, slight loss to the socket rim. Provenance: found Sailsbury, Wiltshire, England. | £850.00 |  |
| | British Bronze Age 'Slender' Socketed Gouge 019272 | British Bronze Age 'Slender' Socketed Gouge Copper-alloy, 44.85 grams, 63.44 mm. Circa 1,200-800 BC. A Late Bronze Age small socketed gouge with a shallow-scooped leading edge and remains of the casting seams to the sides. Reference: Evans, J. Bronze Age Implements; Lord McAlpine Antiquities from Europe and the Near East, p.108-9, 11.56-62. Very fine condition, complete. Provenance: from an old English collection. | £135.00 |  |
| | European Middle Bronze Age 'Pierced and Socketted' Axe Head 022456 | European Middle Bronze Age 'Pierced and Socketted' Axe Head Copper-alloy, 245 grams, 111 mm. Circa 1,600-1,200 BC. A large cast axe head with a long, tubular socket, circular mouth with waisted collar, convergent flat faces and straight cutting edge. On one face, the surface is pierced at the upper end within an elliptical recess. Reference: Moore, C.N. and Rowlands, M. Bronze Age Metalwork in Salisbury Museum, Salisbury, 1972 item 47 'Breton type' axe head, not pierced but with similar profile. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection. | £275.00 |  |
| | Late Bronze Age 'Socketted and Fluted' Chisel 017090 | Late Bronze Age 'Socketted and Fluted' Chisel Copper-alloy, 65 grams, 95 mm long. Circa 1,200 to 700 BC. The round socket opening tapering into a square section chisel blade with slightly convex tip and with a flute to two edges. Reference: Arthur MacGregor Antiquities from Europe and the Near East in the Collection of the Lord McAlpine of West Green, number 10.8 for a similar example. Attractive, with slight curvature to shaft and some loss of the thick patina. Provenance: from an old English collection. | £110.00 |  |
| | Bronze Age 'Hallstatt Type' Razor 001 | Rare Bronze Age 'Hallstatt Type' Razor Copper-alloy, 9.71 grams, 47.15 mm. 8th-6th century BC. The introduction of discoid and lanceolate razors made from copper-alloy is usually associated with the Hallstatt culture of Central Europe; the leaf-shaped example from Acy-Romance in the Musée de l'Ardenne at Charleville-Mézières is the classic type. The present item is a rounded blade with wide shoulders developing from a triangular-section rod pierced for suspension. The outer edges from the shoulders are worked to a very fine blade (about 0.3mm thick). Reference: for Hallstatt design, see Megaw, R. & V. Celtic Art. From its Beginnings to the Book of Kells, London, 1989 and cf. the bell-shaped razor pendant in Murawski, P.G. Benet's Artefacts of England and the United Kingdom, Ely, 2003 p.47 item B14-0603. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection. | £125.00 |  |
| | Late Bronze Age 'Socketted & Looped' Spearhead 015369 | Late Bronze Age 'Socketted & Looped' Spearhead Copper-alloy, 19.91 grams (combined), 76.81 mm (aggregate). Circa 1,200-800 BC. Cast and bifacial with two integral side loops. Reference: Evans, J. The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons & Ornaments of Great Britain & Ireland, 1881, page 323. Provenance: found West Lavington, Wiltshire. An attractive piece, broken into two parts in antiquity. | £175.00 |  |
| | Bronze Age 'Miniature Flanged' Axe 015224 | Bronze Age 'Miniature Flanged' Axe Copper-alloy, 30.95 grams, 45.24 mm. A small, possibly votive, example with a convex cutting edge and raised shallow flanges to the sides. Reference: John Evans The Ancient Bronze Weapons & Ornaments of Great Britain & Ireland, London, 1881, page 52. Slightly abraded but an interesting item. | £90.00 |  |
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