Bidding has ended in the TimeLine Auctions, Ancient Art, Antiquities and Coins auction (Tuesday 6th September 2022 - 10th September 2022). Quite a lot of interesting items went under the hammer, some with extremely interesting collection histories. Others are of interest in context of events currently unfolding on the world stage. For example, one of the items sold to a happy collector was LOT 0571 LARGE GREEK BOW BROOCH 8TH-6TH CENTURY B.C. Estimate GBP (£) 200 - 300 [Sold for (Inc. bp): £143]. It has rather a brief description:
A bronze brooch with a round-section, leech-shaped body with herringbone decoration, biconvex collars, integral catch, single coiled integral spring and pin. 3 1/4 in. (74 grams, 82 mm). [No Reserve]There is a second one in the same auction [Sold for (Inc. bp): £221]:
PROVENANCE:
Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.
CONDITION [blank]"
Lot 588: LARGE GREEK BOW BROOCH 8TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.I am always a bit suspicious of those "no reserve" items... the term appears rather randomly, mainly in the second and later day auctions, I wonder what that could mean?
A bronze brooch with a round-section, leech-shaped body with herringbone decoration, biconvex collars, integral catch, single coiled integral spring and pin. 3 3/4 in. (88 grams, 97 mm). [No Reserve]
PROVENANCE:
Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.
CONDITION [blank]
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| Photos by TimeLine Auctions |
These are part of a wider spread of vaguely-similar brooches that extend across the Greek-Mediterranean areas into the Near East and the Caucasus that relate to common violin bow brooch ancestors (c. 12th-11th century BC), within which the various lineages developed in parallel. While therefore brooches of this wider group are often strikingly similar to each other, they do not really belong to the same line of development.It seems these brooches belong to a comparatively uncommon type, that more frequently occur in the east of Europe. You can find similar items on the Russian (sorry for sending you there) internet such as here in the electronic catalogue of the State Historical Museum in Moscow, an example from the Koban cemetery dated here to the VIII - VII th centuries BC. Another one from a Russian metal detecting forum [«Домонгол-форум древней культуры и искусства, галерея древностей» "Before-the-Mongols-forum of ancient culture and art, gallery of antiquities" ], found "in Krasnodar krai" (That is quite a big area for a provenance - reflecting how artefact hoiking like that is illegal in Russia).* This one is dated by the forum moderator (who it seems may have been the finder some time before 2009) as "Koban culture, Early, or period of Koban II - the middle of the XII - the turn of the XI-X centuries BC". There is not a lot of literature (unless you go to Russian academic sources which I am not going to do at this moment when their troops are in my neighbour's country) but the book by Sabine Reinhold (2007) ' Die Spätbronze- und frühe Eisenzeit im Kaukasus. Materielle Kultur, Chronologie und überregionale Beziehungen' Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie, Bd. 144 Bonn is available online (to TimeLine Auctions' experts too). A number of better parallels to these brooches can be seen on Plates 120-130, especially the Doppelknotenfibeln on plate 125 and the better examples (Sanisugafibeln) on plate 129.
For dot-distribution map fans, that's as shown over to the right here (compiled by the author from Reinhold's volume).
The cited work is
Volume 8 of the Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde handbook, and is not terribly useful as a reference here as the work concentrates on post-Roman Germanic fibulae. TimeLine was never very good at using the literature, either British or continental, seemingly treating it in a very random, haphazard way in an effort to simulate scholarship.
A while back I wrote about the disturbing appearance of unprovenanced Koban Culture artefacts in online sales, often disguised as something else (' Dealing With Russia (I) Koban Culture Artefacts on Western Markets' PACHI Friday, 8 April 2022). If these objects were acquired by the British vendor's (equally British?) collector- father who'd acquired them in 1971-1972, how did they come onto the market? The dots on the map show these objects are found in what was then several different regions of the Soviet Union.
There are another two, called "Hallstatt" brooches, but of different collection histories (I am grateful to collector "Renate" for pointing these two out)
LOT 1504 IRON AGE HALLSTATT TYPE BOW BROOCH 7TH-6TH CENTURY B.C. Estimate GBP (£) 60 - 80 Sold for (Inc. bp): £59Hattatt, ha ha, a book written by a collector about his collection. That's the best their experts can do? Disappointing. The second one, supposedly a dugup artefact, looks a bit odd to me:
A single coil arched bow brooch with pin and integral catchplate, decorative collars to the slender body. 2 3/8 in. (9.35 grams, 59 mm). [No Reserve]
PROVENANCE:
Acquired Munich, Germany, late 1990s.
Property of an East London gentleman.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Hattatt, R., Ancient and Romano-British Brooches, Dorset, 1982, fig.13, 1, for type.
CONDITION [blank]
LOT 1520 IRON AGE HALLSTATT BOW BROOCH 4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
Estimate GBP (£) 60 - 80 Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
A bronze bow brooch comprising a round-section bow with segmented outer ends, coil to one end with integral pin, flat rectangular catch to the other end with lip to the outer edge. 2 5/8 in. (12.7 grams, 67 mm). [No Reserve]
PROVENANCE:
Acquired Munich, Germany, late 1990s.
Property of an East London gentleman.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Beck, H. et al. Fibel und Fibeltracht, Berlin, 2000, item 74(13).
CONDITION [blank]
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| Photos by TimeLine Auctions |
This "East London gentleman", who could that be? An East End antiquities dealer maybe? (shades of "Albert Square Antiquities Emporium"?). So these two came out of wherever they were dug up and were circulating on the antiquities market of Munich (who could that seller be, hmmm?) in the late 1990s, so just after the collapse of the Soviet Union and then ended up in London.
It is not entirely clear what they are. If really antiquities, they may be either Koban pieces or of some related culture. But I cannot help with my archaeologist's eye feeling (subjective, I know) there is something odd about these two. 1520 really does give the (again, subjective) impression of being a freshly-manufactured piece, no? Both of them have a very similar patina which consists of a thin powdery green 'bloom' on a smoother thin layer of darker green that unconformably overlies a dark layer (it can be seen at both ends of the bow of 1504 where the upper layer has flaked off). If these are dugup artefacts, I'd love to know the burial conditions that produced this effect. I'd love to get these two under a microscope.
It is not entirely clear what they are. If really antiquities, they may be either Koban pieces or of some related culture. But I cannot help with my archaeologist's eye feeling (subjective, I know) there is something odd about these two. 1520 really does give the (again, subjective) impression of being a freshly-manufactured piece, no? Both of them have a very similar patina which consists of a thin powdery green 'bloom' on a smoother thin layer of darker green that unconformably overlies a dark layer (it can be seen at both ends of the bow of 1504 where the upper layer has flaked off). If these are dugup artefacts, I'd love to know the burial conditions that produced this effect. I'd love to get these two under a microscope.
POSTSCRIPT
*If bolshy UK metal detectorists think the rules of their forums are restrictive, they may like to read those of one in Putin's Russia for comparison. There are some points of similarity with their own, but some pretty drastic differences.
Hat tip. I'd like to acknowledge the help with this post of fibula-canny collector 'Renate' who pointed me to these fibulae and also some of the references.
*If bolshy UK metal detectorists think the rules of their forums are restrictive, they may like to read those of one in Putin's Russia for comparison. There are some points of similarity with their own, but some pretty drastic differences.
Рекомендуется придерживаться литературной речи и уважительному отношению друг к другу. [...] Бессмысленные, не информативные посты, не имеющие отношения к тематике форума, могут быть удалены Модератором форума по его усмотрению.
4. Участникам форума рекомендуется избегать "национальных и религиозных вопросов", а также вопросов связанных с "белыми и черными" археологами, их противодействием и разногласиями[It is recommended to adhere to literary speech and respectful attitude towards each other. [...] Meaningless, non-informative posts that are not related to the topic of the forum may be deleted by the Forum Moderator at his discretion.
4. Forum participants are advised to avoid "national and religious issues", as well as issues related to "white and black" archaeologists, their opposition and disagreements]
Hat tip. I'd like to acknowledge the help with this post of fibula-canny collector 'Renate' who pointed me to these fibulae and also some of the references.
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