SUPERB ANCIENT BRONZE SWORD WITH HANDLE

1200-700 BC, Greek Archaic Period. This beautiful bronze sword has a leaf-shaped, bevelled blade with a fuller or “blood groove”, curving attachment point for a guard and a cylindrical handle with a biconical pommel. Bronze weaponry production flourished in western Asia, the Aegean, and Mainland Greece from the 2nd millennium BC to about 700 BC, when it was gradually replaced by iron. Daggers, swords, spears, and arrows were important symbols of war in Greek Bronze Age societies and served as powerful reminders that authority rested in the hands of those who could earn it. Superb condition; beautiful patina; on a custom stand.Size: L:545mm / W:90mm ; 840g; Provenance: From the collection of a gentleman based in London; formerly with a British gallery; acquired in the 1990s.