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2007-06-05
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Provenanced Celtic Bronze SWORD 1000 BC
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Provenanced Celtic Bronze SWORD 1000 BC

"a sword on a stand"

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Comments for: Provenanced Celtic Bronze SWORD 1000 BC
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Date: June 05, 2007 05:18AM

a Bronze Age Masterpiece in ancient weaponry. This is a profusely decorated bronze Celtic Sword dating to around 1000 BC. It enjoys a very characteristic golden brown river patina, having being dregged from the river Danube in Germany, many years ago. De-accessioned from an important German private collection and obtained from an auction house in Munich, it is by far the best sword of its type that we have ever seen. It is better than the ones inspected in museums in England and elsewhere. The new owner will thus be an extremely privileged person. Items of this calibre are near impossible to obtain as the majority are to be found in state museums. This artefact has been de-accessioned from an old German collection and we are very privileged to have been given the opportunity to offer it. Provenance: Found near water in the tributaries of the river Danube in West Germany. Via German auction house in Munich. It exhibits a superb honey-brown water patina and encrustation on the handle. The beautiful long symmetrical blade enjoys a broad mid-rib, all the way down to the point. The handle and pommel enjoy profuse incised whorl and banded decoration. A pair of rivets secure the blade firmly in the handle. The blade enjoys a couple of small battle scars along its length on both edges. The weapon is intact, unrestored and uncleaned. The handle viewed vertically, stylistically resembles a human figure. The blade is slender, aerodynamic and leaf-shaped with a long and prominent mid-rib. Almost certainly a weapon which would have been used once in a ritual killing and then flung in the water by a high Priest. I refer to the "Bog man" currently in the British Museum. Several similar "Bog men" have now been found in Western Europe. A true masterpiece! In antiquity such a sword would have been owned by high nobility; then, probably worth as much as a private Jet today! The new owner would be advised to publish this masterpiece and take it to his or her nearest state museum where it can be recorded into the archaeological literature. Length of Weapon: 24 1/4 inches. Length of handle and pommel: 4 3/8 inches. width of blade at base: 1 7/8 inches. The date of manufacture of this weapon is the Bronze Age some 1500 to 1000 BC. Our early western European Ancestors believed in powerful Water Spirits and Human Sacrifice. Humans, often enemies, but on occasions respected local noblemen, were sacrificed in a ritual fashion with such swords near the water to upease the Gods or to ask for a favour to be granted. Often after the sacrifice, the high priests or druids, used to ceremoniously fling these superb swords into the water as part of the sacrifice ritual, as a further offering to the Gods. Hence the fact that these precious objects have often been retrieved from fresh water.
Price: $25,000.00