Here are photos I took at the British Museum a year ago. The description is from the display card.


Iron Swords with Cast Bronze Anthropoid Hilts

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400-200 BC, Found near Sulmona, Aquila, Italy

The hilt was cast in three separate sections with the head securing them onto the tang. This early example is extremely stylised demonstrating how it was developed from earlier antennae hilt shapes.

PRB 1890 12-31

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300-100 BC, Salon, Aube, France

The hilt was cast in two components joined at about the waist-line. The head modelled in the round to depict a clean-shaven male with a miserable expression.

PRB ML1669

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I did not photograph the card for the third sword.

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Anthropomorphic Swords at The British Museum

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Anthropomorphic Swords at The British Museum

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Anthropomorphic Sword at The British Museum

Thank you, an idea is growing in my mind, as unruly as Athena in Jupiter's head ...

I'm reminded of the Al Massey and Jake Powning rendition

http://www.myArmoury.com/nateb_swor_mass_anth.html?7

IIRC, this sword changed hands in the past year. I hope it went to a good home and doesn't just fade from memory.

Thanks for posting these Nathan. I don't think I have ever seen them together in context before. My ancestry being primarly Celtic, these have always been of interest to me.

Cheers

GC

Great Pics Nathan. Don't know how I missed seeing these when I was there this summer. Thanks for posting!

Under my august feet it lies the territory of Nortehrn Italy: so swords like this can be hiden where I walk.


Now it is just a matter of lookig for a cheap minesweeper ...