Hi all,
I thought I'd share a piece in my
collection that has bothered me for some time. I bought it very early in my collecting career, and so it's one of the few pieces that has a kind of "orphan" status with an unverifiable/hearsay
provenance of simply "from the
collection of a
Spanish gentleman, formed in 1950s". I often go from doubting this piece's authenticity, in
part because it just looks "different" to my other bronzes, to looking at it closely under a microscope and feeling completely reassured. But I
still always feel like I could be wrong, and so I've never fully accepted the piece as I do my other
antiquities. So, take a look, let me hear me your impressions, and perhaps you can assuage my fears or confirm my doubts! There are some little interesting features that are shown in the photos: where it is broken at the legs, you can see there are inserted metal pieces, I always thought they might be for attachment. There are areas where the
patina is thin enough to see the bare metal beneath, however, there are also many colorful layers of
patina and corrosion (especially on the inside of the legs) which look pretty convincingly ancient to me. There is another break at the beak, and there is an
area of the tail that is slightly bent from damage. It seems to be solid bronze, and is heavy for the size, it weighs around 300g. Its length is 2.5in (6.3cm). It was described to me as a 1st-2nd century
Roman eagle statuette.
Thanks and
hope to hear your thoughts!
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-129639
