10th century BC. A bronze short sword comprising a broad triangular two-edged blade with median panel developing to a midrib above the point, lower guard with barbed shoulders and three projections to each face, columnar grip with blocks of raised pointillé detailing, conical pommel with four projecting spurs, acute point, ring-and-dot motif to both faces. Cf. Khorasani, M.M. Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, item 48 (where the bronze hilt is fitted to an iron blade"). 2 kg total, 77cm (30 1/4"). Property of a central London gallery; previously in the collection of a respected gentleman, acquired in the 1980s.