TWO EUROPEAN BRONZE AGE KNIVES WITH SHARP TIPS AND BLADES *R123

Product Description

This superb set of two ancient BRONZE AGE knives from Europe comprises to perfectly preserved COMPLETE tanged examples.  A wood, bone or ivory handle would have been affixed to the tang.  One example shows one of the original rivets still in place.  These are personal use blades and would have served as utilitarian knives for any everyday use.  European Bronze Age tools are weapons are VERY SCARCE and only rarely come up for sale on the open market.  All must come from old collections as metal-detecting and prospecting for artifacts has been forbidden by law in Europe since the mid 1980's at the latest.  The price for the set  socketed axe with loop would have been mounted on a long wooden handle with a L-shaped end on which this bronze axe would have been mounted.  It is unusual in the sense that it is smaller than typical examples.  Possibly meant for detail wood work by an ancient craftsperson.  The loop is indicative of the value placed on these earliest of ancient bronze European tools by which if the wood handle broke or the axe became separated, it would still be attached to the handle and not lost.  In this early period, bronze was very expensive and valuable and only certain individuals would have possessed such a cherished tool.  The diminutive size of this specimen would have also made it highly effective as a weapon since its small proportion would have been well suited for armor penetration and rapid swinging in combat if used as a weapon.

Cleaned and treated in our lab to protect and preserve the integrity of the metal and allow safe handling.    Be wary of modern copies that plague the antiquity market today.  We subject every artifact we offer for sale to rigorous inspection and authentication in our own museum lab facility. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE EUROPEAN BRONZE AGE ARTIFACTS