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Bronze Age casting mould for a chisel

€1,400
available
Object number
AR3213A
Object: Half of a stone casting mould from the Early Bronze Age

Material: Metamorphic stone.

Period: Early Bronze Age of Europe.
2nd Millennium BC.

Description:    One half of an elongated two-part stone mould. The outside is featureless and smooth, save for transverse grooves where a string or wire once ran to hold the two part mould together. The inside is concave and semi-conical, with a relief carved on 1/4 of the length. It shows three stylized branches with leaves, with a transverse groove on both sides as a demarcation.
This piece is one side of the casting mould for the serial production of a chisel. The Early Bronze Age equipment came from a workshop in south-eastern Europe, probably in the Carpathian Basin (see Born and Hansen's publication).

Background: During Bronze Age, the casting process for metal was brought to a high technical and artistic level also in Europe. It gradually replaced forging and hammering in the manufacture of tools and weapons. The present mould is a great example from the time when this technological revolution swept to Europe.

Dimensions: 15.4cm long.

Condition: Fragmentary preserved half. Part of the tip is missing. The surfaces are in very good condition. On the outside is a modern eyelet, attached by a previous owner for hanging or securing the exhibit. Also an old sticker from Axel Guttmann with the inscription "AG' 1083".

Provenance: Acquired by us on the German art market in 2021. Previously in a German private collection. Acquired into the collection in 2009 at Hermann Historica, Germany, auction 58, lot no. 217. Previously in the Axel Guttmann Collection, collection no. 1083. Acquired into the Guttmann Collection in Munich in 1991.

Axel Guttmann built his impressive private collection of ancient weapons between 1982 and 2001. He focusssed on the Mediterranean between the emergence of bronze weapons until the end of the Western Roman empire. It was the largest and highest quality private collection of ancient weapons during its time. Publish the vast material required the renowned publishing house Philipp von Zabern a total of eigth volumes that came out between 1991 and 2001. After Guttmann's early death his collection was passed on to a new generation of collectors by the means of various auctions from 2003 to 2010.

Publication: This piece is published in H. Born and S. Hansen, Helme und Waffen Alteuropas. Sammlung Axel Guttmann Band IX (Mainz, 2001), pp. 224, fig. 167.

Authenticity: We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.