Bronze Luristan Axe

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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shayde78 · 19th October 2018, 05:03 AM

Great stuff, Ian!
Thank you for making them available all in one thread. I am not one who likes throwing up my hands and saying "we can never know!" There are some very learned folks on this site, and I'd like to think we can at least attempt to develop our capacity to distinguish fakes from authentic relics

I appreciate you contributing to this effort

Here are a few pictures of items currently in museum collections. I'll provide the name of the museum, and let folks speculate as to their authenticity. It may be helpful to compare the condition and patina present.

To start, some items from the Allard Pierson Museum's Luristan collection. In order, you have axes, 'daggers', and 'swords'. [note the similarity of the second blade from the left in the third picture to the example here ]

shayde78 · 19th October 2018, 05:06 AM

Next, we have an axe from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and two axes from the Museum of Fine Arts.

shayde78 · 19th October 2018, 05:13 AM

Finally, I am including two pictures of examples of ancient bronzes from the Royal Ontario Museum. These are listed as 'Cycladic', and date to about 2000BCE (or about 1000 years earlier than the time to which Luristan artifacts are dated). I include them for further comparison of bronze patination and excavated condition. As artifacts from Cycladic culture do not have the same reputation for forgeries, we may (perhaps!) trust the museum's attribution to both culture and date.

kronckew · 20th October 2018, 12:11 AM

Mine was disucussed and has a bit more info HERE

17th October 2018, 09:13 PM	#1
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,399	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

19th October 2018, 05:03 AM	#4
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Great stuff, Ian! Thank you for making them available all in one thread. I am not one who likes throwing up my hands and saying "we can never know!" There are some very learned folks on this site, and I'd like to think we can at least attempt to develop our capacity to distinguish fakes from authentic relics I appreciate you contributing to this effort Here are a few pictures of items currently in museum collections. I'll provide the name of the museum, and let folks speculate as to their authenticity. It may be helpful to compare the condition and patina present. To start, some items from the Allard Pierson Museum's Luristan collection. In order, you have axes, 'daggers', and 'swords'. [note the similarity of the second blade from the left in the third picture to the example here ] Attached Images Last edited by shayde78; 19th October 2018 at 05:16 AM.

19th October 2018, 05:06 AM	#5
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Next, we have an axe from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and two axes from the Museum of Fine Arts. Attached Images

19th October 2018, 05:13 AM	#6
shayde78 Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 445	Finally, I am including two pictures of examples of ancient bronzes from the Royal Ontario Museum. These are listed as 'Cycladic', and date to about 2000BCE (or about 1000 years earlier than the time to which Luristan artifacts are dated). I include them for further comparison of bronze patination and excavated condition. As artifacts from Cycladic culture do not have the same reputation for forgeries, we may (perhaps!) trust the museum's attribution to both culture and date. Attached Images

20th October 2018, 12:11 AM	#7
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,224	Mine was disucussed and has a bit more info HERE Attached Images