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    Posted

    Here are some items that are not German or LW related. The first is an old iron spear head. I was informed that it was Roman. Can someone give me a time era?

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    Posted

    And a Bronze arrow head. I think that this is Greek. What are your thoughts? What would have been the time era for this one?

    Posted

    Paul,

    I would tend to think that your spear head has a way too common profile to think it's Roman.

    It may be one of the spear head used in the early roman army, but the way the head is attached to the wood differs from what I've seen in many reference books and studies.

    It cant be confused with the well known Pilum as this one had a longer and slimer head. Most of the time, there also was a counterweight to increase range of the launch.

    Another kind of spear was used in parallel, the Hasta. In this case, same thought as for the early spears. The wood attachment part differs from what we can see on various sources and studies.

    Late roman infantry man used the Pilum but also the Spiculum. This particular spear could be what we're looking for. However, some details differs from your example displayed here. A better view could be useful. Is there a spine on the flat part of the head? Can you get a picture of the front side of the head so that we can figure out a bit better what a tridimensional view could give. Also what size is it?

    About the arrow head, I would say that it's a Roman. I have pictures of the same arrow head in a book about the early Roman army. Here's a picture of the same head I have on my hdd :

    Hope this helped,

    Best regards,

    Nicolas

    Posted

    Hello Paul and Nicolas,

    Excuse me for sticking my nose here but I also have some Roman poins that would like to know more about. These two poins come from La Mancha in Spain and I don't know if they are Roman or Iberic. Will apreciale any information.

    Eduardo

    Posted

    Hello Eduardo,

    Very interesting arrow heads. Can you get a clean picture of the rear part of the second one? This little part just behind the head itself is quite surprising.

    Any idea of what material these heads are made of?

    Best regards,

    Nicolas

    Posted

    Hello Nicolas,

    With surprise at first and in panic later, I have not been able to find my arrow heads. I will have to make a full search because I must have misplaced them. They are brass or some other copper alloy. Will be back as soon as I find them.

    Have a Happy New Year.

    Eduardo

    PS. It might be interesting to have a section on ancient weapons and militaria in the G.M.I.C.

    Posted

    I aplogize for the delay for getting back to this thread. I have read your comments and learned a lot. Thanks Nico, for clarification on the Spearhead. Is there any way to be sure on the origins of the spearhead, or is it too far gone?

    The Arrow head is a favorite of mine. It is still very sharp and I am sure that it could be used today!

    Eduardo,

    Those arrow heads are very unique. I have never seen anything like them. Thanks for the website. I will review it.

    Lets keep the artifacts coming. Participation and interest will contribute to the decision on the formation of a new forum.

    Regards

    Paul

    Posted (edited)

    Hello Paul,

    These arrows are from the so called "Macalon Tipe" because the first specimens were fround in that site in Albacete province in La Mancha.

    They are a double edge cast bronce points with a tube and harpoon. They appear in the Iberian peninsula arround the VII century B.C. They are considered of the Punic.-Phoenician tradition and their origen is to be found in the Eastern Mediterranean. The points are 3 to 5 cms. Long and 1 cm. Wide. Usually they have a hole in the side to place a pin that holds the point to the wood which with the hole to insert the shaft is their main characteristic and not the harpoon which might sometimes be absent.

    Eduardo

    PS. Have been looking arround for my poins all day long with no success.

    Edited by Eduardo
    Posted

    fantastic paul !!

    love too see that someone is not focused on one collectionfield (luftwaffe tabs :lol: )

    i am living at a place where you can find some of this pieces.

    keep you in mind ofcourse :beer:

    regards johan

    Posted (edited)

    The lead missiles thrown with slings are to be found in many places. The two shown here are considered of Punic tradition and were found in central Spain. Some Roman misiles have inscriptions but I have not seen any. Why would these be considered of Punic tradition is something I don't know.

    Eduardo

    Edited by Eduardo
    Posted

    An excelent group of Denarius, Bear. That Aelivs caesar is super. Congratulations.

    Eduardo

    Thanks guys! Bear, those coins are great!!! I am very envious! Maybe one day!

    Johannes,

    If you find some , I would be VERY interested in aquiring more!

    Eduardo,

    Those are great!! I have never seen those before!

    Posted (edited)

    hello paul

    where i life there are the so called hunnebedden.

    there are a old sort of grave (i know nothing about acient history)

    farmers find often arrowpoint's old fistaxes (right english ?)etc,etc.

    i keep you informed when i ore my relativs find something.

    regards johan

    Edited by johannes post
    • 2 weeks later...
    Posted

    What is the best way to clean these?

    As for the coins the least destructive way would be to soak them in olive oil. After a month take them out, give them a scrub with a nylon brush, change the oil and soak some more. It takes a long while but it's the best way to remove hundreds of years of caked on crud.

    The electrolysis method can be very destructive. Trust me on that one. :)

    Posted

    Eduardo,

    Thank you for the photos! I could not imagine being hit with one of those!

    johan,

    Thanks for sharing the photo. So you dont know how long the grave has been there? I would love to see what your relatives find!

    Eric,

    I will soak some of them in the oil. One thing I have pleny of is olive oil and TIME!

    Regards

    Paul

    Posted

    Eduardo,

    Thank you for the photos! I could not imagine being hit with one of those!

    johan,

    Thanks for sharing the photo. So you dont know how long the grave has been there? I would love to see what your relatives find!

    Eric,

    I will soak some of them in the oil. One thing I have pleny of is olive oil and TIME!

    Regards

    Paul

    Hi Paul,

    One thing on cleaning the coins though... be very careful not to remove any green patina! :speechless1: That is "extremely" desireable on ancient coins and folks tend to pay a premium for that.

    I've got a few ancients I can post... will have to pop down and do some scanning. Nothing fancy, and no silver yet. Well, I have one I got as a kid that I'm not sure about. Took it to a coin dealer who dabbles in ancients but he couldn't ID it one way or the other.

    But I've got to say... everyone certainly has some beautiful ancient collections going here. :jumping: Barry... fantastic collection! :jumping::jumping: I envy you. I've been after just one nice silver for so many years I don't even like to think about it. I guess I got spoiled once when I was in a coin shop and spotted the most beautiful silver Roman coin I'd ever seen in my life. Was only just under $60 and yet I was just short of that at the time. Had planned to go back. But he'd been robbed a couple of times, got rather paranoid and finally got out of the business. A shame as he had some terrific pieces. So I never was able to get that one. Whenever I look at another one I flash back to that and end up seeing how, at least in my mind, the ones I'd currently be looking at pale in comparison to that one. It was a nice sized piece... between the sizes of a U.S. nickel and quarter dollar. Seems anything in a decent size range like that always goes for more than I have to put out. But I haven't given up yet. :D

    But I must say, your's are gorgeous and certainly meet or exceed the quality of the strike, etc., that I recall from that one all those years ago. :love::love:

    Thanks so much for sharing and I'd like to second Eduardo's motion that we should have a section to cover ancient items like these. Fascinating and sooooo much history in ones hands!

    Dan :cheers:

    Posted

    Hi all,

    Just got back up from the bunker doing a bunch of scans. This has motivated me to scan all my ancients in the hope of posting to an ancients forum at some point to get them ID'd. I only have an ID of sorts on one in my collection. Anyhow here is my extremely humble contribution:

    Group shot (obverse/reverse)

    Row 1 (obverse/reverse)

    Row 2 (obverse/reverse)

    Posted

    Row 3 (obverse/reverse)

    Row 4 (obverse/reverse)

    Row 5 (obverse/reverse)

    One can only imagine how many in the Roman Legions might have been paid with coins like these. It gives me chills how much history is in my hand every time I hold them. :o

    Dan :cheers:

    Posted (edited)

    Hello to all,

    Eric is right, any cleaning of coins is a serious matter, specially when dealing with base metal. As Dan mentions, patinas are desirable. It is such a theme that in my decades collecting Roman coins I still prefer not to manipulate them. I rather leave that job to profesionals.

    Dan, to scan the coins you normally have to play with the ilumination. There are so many Roman coins dealing with the military history of the empire and before the Empire. Here I just post a denary of the Imperatorial period (between the Republic and the Empire or Civil Wars Period) This coins was issued by Marc Antony (43-28 BC) and there is one for each legion. The coin here presented is of the 5th Legion as can be seen under the standarts and eagle LEG V. The other side presents a sailing Galley.

    It is possible to have a Military History of Rome just from its coins. The weapons is just one of the subjects.

    Eduardo

    Edited by Eduardo

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