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.



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

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British Bronze Age 'Looped and Socketed' Spearhead 021445
British Late Bronze Age 'Socketted & Looped' Axe Head 021781

British Late Bronze Age 'Socketted & Looped' Axe Head
Copper-alloy, 290 grams, 109 mm. Circa 1,200-500 BC. A cast socketted axe head with lateral loop to assist in attaching the head to the haft. The cutting edge is slightly convex and the socket squared with a raised rib at the mouth. Reference: Evans, J. The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1881 p.112, items 116-7. Very fine condition. Provenance: found Cambridgeshire, England.

£350.00

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British Late Bronze Age 'Socketted & Looped' Axe Head 021781
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

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British Bronze Age 'Slender' Socketed Gouge 019272
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

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European Middle Bronze Age 'Pierced and Socketted' Axe Head 022456
British Bronze Age 'Collared' Socketted Gouge 022641

British Bronze Age 'Collared' Socketted Gouge
Copper-alloy, 80 grams, 95.0 mm. Circa 1,200-800 BC. A Late Bronze Age socketed gouge with a shallow-scooped leading edge and remains of the casting seams to the sides. The socket is provided with a strengthening collar at the rim. Reference: Evans, J. The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1881 fig.206. Very fine condition, complete. Provenance: from an old English collection.

£130.00

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British Bronze Age 'Collared' Socketted Gouge 022641
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

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Late Bronze Age 'Socketted and Fluted' Chisel 017090
Late Bronze Age 'Socketted' Gouge 015222

Published Late Bronze Age 'Socketted' Gouge
Copper-alloy, 75 grams, 102 mm. Circa 2100 – 700 BC. Of typical cast form froma two-piece mould with casting seams visible to the sides. The rounded cutting edge formed at the end of the tapered channel indent. Reference: John Evans The Ancient Bronze Weapons & Ornaments of Great Britain & Ireland, London, 1881, page 174. Provenance: this gouge published in Benet's Artefacts of England & the United Kindom, second edition, page 47, number B99-0102. Fine condition, with slight chip to socket rim.

£160.00

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Late Bronze Age 'Socketted' Gouge 015222
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

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Bronze Age 'Hallstatt Type' Razor 001
British Bronze Age 'Socketed' Hammer 018063

Extremely Rare British Bronze Age 'Socketed' Hammer
Copper-alloy, 135 grams, 59.32 mm. Circa 10th century BC. A sturdy cast hammer widening towards the closed end. The square-section socket extends about 4cm into the hammer. The casting seams are prominent along the upper and lower faces but have been almost lost on the curved percussion face due to constant wear. Reference: Murawski, P. Benet's Artefacts of England & the United Kindom, Ely, 2003 p.49 item B99-0301. Good very fine condition. Provenance: found South Yorkshire, England.

£325.00

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British Bronze Age 'Socketed' Hammer 018063
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

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Late Bronze Age 'Socketted & Looped' Spearhead 015369
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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Bronze Age 'Miniature Flanged' Axe 015224
Late Bronze Age 'Bifacial' Rapier 012587

Rare Late Bronze Age 'Bifacial' Rapier
Copper-alloy, 145 grams, 215 mm. Circa 800-1,000 BC. A cast bifacial rapier, with two rivet holes to the hilt. The edges hollow ground. Reference: John Evans The Ancient Bronze Implements Weapons & Ornaments of Great Britain & Ireland, page 247, for very similar examples. In excellent condition with only the tip lost in antiquity, perhaps deliberately broken.

£285.00

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Late Bronze Age 'Bifacial' Rapier 012587
Late Bronze Age 'Square Sectioned' Awl 015004

Late Bronze Age 'Square Sectioned' Awl
Copper-alloy, 2.41 grams, 37.52 mm. A small awl of square cross-section tapering evenly to each end. Reference: John Evans The Ancient Bronze Implements Weapons & Ornaments of Great Britain & Ireland, page 189. An excellent and unusually small example.

£35.00

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Late Bronze Age 'Square Sectioned' Awl 015004


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