Here's an interesting new pickup, one that has some mystery about it:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=175683Enlargement:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16274/Iron_Dagger_01.jpgIt's an iron dagger that I will be listing with question marks:
Iron Dagger #01
Parthian? Early
Sassanian?
Possibly from northern or northwestern
Iranc. 1st – early 4th century AD?
22.86 cm (9 1/16”)
Since I began collecting ancient weaponry a few years back, I’ve really wanted to acquire an ancient
Parthian dagger or spearhead. Since I have collected
Parthian coins for thirty-plus years, a
Parthian edged weapon would be a real score for me. However, they are exceedingly
rare. The few examples I’ve seen on the market were – in my admittedly amateur, only-semi-informed opinion –
fakes. [Including, I suspect, one currently listed at
auction (May 2022) from a seller with a bad
rep.]
Parthian daggers, swords, and spearheads were typically manufactured in iron. Accordingly, the examples from
museum collections and references that I’ve seen are usually in
fair condition
at best. None that have survived are in pristine shape, it seems.
The first image below shows some documented examples, with the top three in that image from the
Iran Bastan Museum, the bottom three (a sword and two daggers) excavated from graves near the Iranian village of Vestemin in northern
Iran.
The second image shows more examples of
Parthian swords and daggers, this time from Manouchehr Moshtagh
Khorasani’s
Arms and Armour from Iran. These are from Gilan (NW
Iran), and are housed in the
collection of the National Museum of
Iran in Tehran. As
Khorasani points out,
Parthian daggers “have quillons (
cross guards) similar to the quillons of the
Parthian swords…”
As for my new acquisition (at the links above), the seller's listing
had it as 2nd century AD
Roman. While that
attribution is, perhaps, possible, I think it is likely inaccurate. It is unlike any legitimate
Roman daggers or “
pugiones” that I have seen, all of which have more ornate grips, often in addition to differently shaped and proportioned blades. Of course, I freely admit I am no expert with any of this material.
The challenge here, of course, is the dagger’s very economical form – an example of form following function, with no embellishments or other features that might definitively tie it to a specific culture and period. It could be ancient, but then again it could be
medieval.
On the other hand, it seems quite similar to the
Parthian swords and daggers of the 1st through 2nd centuries AD from
north and northwest
Iran. The thickness and shape of the quillon is a close match,
as is the blade shape and length, and the tang-like grip – which I suppose might have been embedded or wrapped in another material in
antiquity.
Complicating the
attribution, somewhat, is the fact that some early
Sassanian (3rd – early 4th centuries AD) edged weaponry from Gilan (northwest
Iran) seems nearly indistinguishable from those of the defeated
Parthians, although they have sometimes survived in slightly better condition. The third image below shows early
Sassanian swords from
Khorasani. (Later
Sassanian edged weaponry became much more ornamented.)
Given my dagger’s relatively decent condition, I suppose it could be
Sassanian rather than
Parthian, assuming it is indeed from ancient
Iran rather than ancient or
medieval Europe.
I’m hopeful I’m on the right track, but I invite other opinions that might
bust my bubble.