Bronze Luristan Axe

shayde78 · 15th October 2018, 06:19 PM

I love bronze age cultures of the ancient Near East. I have wanted to pick up one of these specific forms of axe heads for a long time, but never could justify the price for something I lack the expertise to evaluate accurately. Fortunately, I found this available for a price low enough that I was happy to pay, if even for a reproduction. The fact that it came from a collection of other high-end items, and that the previous owner had a custom display stand made gives me hope that they, at least, considered it to be of value. For the price of 8 gallons of milk, it was worth the gamble. If nothing else, the stand may be worth that much alone.

I know these are notoriously difficult to authenticate. There are a massive amount of fakes on the market. The real ones also flooded the market, and originated from local folks who were digging simply to find objects to sell. Therefore, there is not much reliable information from academic and methodical excavations.

So, while I would be thrilled if someone could look at the following photos and provide some certainty as to the authenticity (or lack thereof) of the object in question, I am primary posting this to prompt a discussion and to provide ensure some images reside in these archives so that others may compare subsequent pieces.

Thank you all for any opinions you wish to offer

Ian · 15th October 2018, 10:58 PM

Hi shayde:

The odds of finding a genuine bargain for a Luristan axe through online sources must be exceedingly small given the large number of reproductions around. For that reason alone, I think yours is almost certainly a copy. I also think the finish on yours is not very consistent with what is shown in large museums from that period. To me it just does not look as though it has been excavated and is 3000 years old.

That said, I have only a basic understanding of ancient bronze artifacts, which is why I take advantage of online resources that show what are (presumably) authenticated items in reputable museums. This is especially true for Luristan bronze objects for which, as you note, there are a ton of copies floating round.

There is a nice article from the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (attached here) that shows many pictures of Luristan bronze artifacts which may be helpful in identifying the surface appearance of genuine objects. Photographs, of course, only tell a part of the story and there is no substitute for direct inspection. I would suggest that you take your axe head to a reputable museum and ask for a professional opinion.

Ian.

shayde78 · 17th October 2018, 04:41 AM

This is exactly the dialogue I wanted to prompt. Thank you for providing the pdf resource. I have been trying to find good color images of authenticated Luristan bronzes so I can compare the patina. The B&W images in the document you provided look very similar to the object in question, so color images would give us a reference point by which to compare.

Thanks, Ian!

Oh, and the seller had listed this as simply "bronze sculpture", so I don't think it was priced as it would be if they knew what it is intended to look like.

Ian · 17th October 2018, 09:13 PM

Pictures of two Luristan axe heads from the Birmingham Museums catalogue are attached. It's not clear from the article how these were treated after acquisition and what they looked like when they were acquired. One assumes they are authentic given the provenance, but even museums can be wrong. The lack of other responses to your post would seem to indicate how hard these items are to evaluate from pictures alone.

Ian.

Ian · 17th October 2018, 09:40 PM

Another interesting article of a technical nature about evaluation of Luristan swords has been published by the British Musuem. They X-rayed the objects, scanned the surfaces at very high resolution, and also used X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) to analyze the composition of the swords. They reported mixed metal constructions, including iron and bronze, and noted recent restorations of antique items leading to "pastiches" of elements (even those in museums and reputable collections). Caveat emptor indeed for Luristan swords!

Ian.
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Ian · 17th October 2018, 09:54 PM

And another technical article from the Belgian Archaeological Mission in Iran (BAMI).

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15th October 2018, 06:19 PM	#1
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Bronze Luristan Axe I love bronze age cultures of the ancient Near East. I have wanted to pick up one of these specific forms of axe heads for a long time, but never could justify the price for something I lack the expertise to evaluate accurately. Fortunately, I found this available for a price low enough that I was happy to pay, if even for a reproduction. The fact that it came from a collection of other high-end items, and that the previous owner had a custom display stand made gives me hope that they, at least, considered it to be of value. For the price of 8 gallons of milk, it was worth the gamble. If nothing else, the stand may be worth that much alone. I know these are notoriously difficult to authenticate. There are a massive amount of fakes on the market. The real ones also flooded the market, and originated from local folks who were digging simply to find objects to sell. Therefore, there is not much reliable information from academic and methodical excavations. So, while I would be thrilled if someone could look at the following photos and provide some certainty as to the authenticity (or lack thereof) of the object in question, I am primary posting this to prompt a discussion and to provide ensure some images reside in these archives so that others may compare subsequent pieces. Thank you all for any opinions you wish to offer Attached Images

17th October 2018, 09:13 PM	#4
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,197	Pictures of two Luristan axe heads from the Birmingham Museums catalogue are attached. It's not clear from the article how these were treated after acquisition and what they looked like when they were acquired. One assumes they are authentic given the provenance, but even museums can be wrong. The lack of other responses to your post would seem to indicate how hard these items are to evaluate from pictures alone. Ian. Attached Images

17th October 2018, 04:41 AM	#3
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	This is exactly the dialogue I wanted to prompt. Thank you for providing the pdf resource. I have been trying to find good color images of authenticated Luristan bronzes so I can compare the patina. The B&W images in the document you provided look very similar to the object in question, so color images would give us a reference point by which to compare. Thanks, Ian! Oh, and the seller had listed this as simply "bronze sculpture", so I don't think it was priced as it would be if they knew what it is intended to look like.