Bronze Lance Head

[S.Workman]

This is a quite common type for the Late Bronze Age in Central Europe. The holes are to run a cross tie of wood or bronze through to affix the socket to the spear shaft. The basic form of this spear was used over a very large area and for a very long time, up through the early iron age. I think it would be hard to pin it down either geographically or historically. You should register with academia.edu and download this very well written and informative paper:

https://www.academia.edu/1217073/Lat...eastern_Europe

You can learn a great deal more about this spear type from the paper. Thats a wonderful point to have btw. You should inspect it very carefully with a glass for marks of rotary tools. This will help to find out if its a modern forgery; some are sadly. Thats not to impugn the auction house, its just a fact.
Scads of just this kind of point were sacrificed in bogs, or are found in what are called metalworkers hoards, but which may be a subterranean sacrifice.
As far as the holes go, Bronze Age metalworkers were able to cast and work metal in all kinds of ways. They were actually very skilled. They may have, for instance, softened the bronze by heating it red, then letting it cool. Then the hole is drilled, with a bow drill tipped with a flint or quartzite bit, then reheated and quenched to harden it. You can't treat bronze like iron of course, but that is a technique I have used on bronze. There is a whole community of people who make bronze items, this fellow:
http://www.bronze-age-swords.com
and this guy:
http://www.bronsereplika.no
Its amazing what they can get up to.

[CSinTX]

S.Workman, I have a wealth of info to study now. Thanks so much!

I inspected the point closely and each blade has a number of very small wear marks that travel down the blades from front to back (parallel to the haft). I'm not sure of the origin but they definitely appear hand made. These are not present on the shank. The result of hand sharpening the blades?

Can you comment on patina? I have heard that truly old bronze should be brown more than green. Is that true? At what age should we expect to see this? I assume actual metal content and storage over the years can greatly affect patina?

Best,
Casey

[S.Workman]

Originally Posted by dafunky1

S.Workman, I have a wealth of info to study now. Thanks so much!

I inspected the point closely and each blade has a number of very small wear marks that travel down the blades from front to back (parallel to the haft). I'm not sure of the origin but they definitely appear hand made. These are not present on the shank. The result of hand sharpening the blades?

Can you comment on patina? I have heard that truly old bronze should be brown more than green. Is that true? At what age should we expect to see this? I assume actual metal content and storage over the years can greatly affect patina?

Best,
Casey

It has probably been in a collection, or collections, for a long time. When that occurs (common in Europe) adventurous people sometimes try to clean them with files, steel wool, whatever. That will leave that kind of mark. The patina looks like it might be legit, but its hard saying. There are many circumstances that will lead to a green patina, one of them is immersion then draining. The wet bronze oxidizes in the air, so in Mycenaean Greece for instance there are greenish bronzes.This is because despite the dry climate, when it rains, it floods tombs or shaft graves which stay sodden then dry over time. Its the constant change it atmosphere that changes the bronzes green.
I am no expert, but I am encouraged by the slightly flattened profile of the socket, and the transverse thickening there. If its the work of a forger, he knows his business.