Accession No
1925.339 B
Description
Socketed axe, fine brown-green patina, black patches, mouth and blade hammered, blow-hole beneath loop.
Place
Europe; ?British Isles; ?Scotland; ?Shetland
Period
Bronze Age Later
Source
Pennant Collection; Pennant, Thomas [collector]; Feilding, Rudolph Robert B. A. A. (9th Earl of Denbigh) (depositor and donor)
Department
Arch
Reference Numbers
1925.339 B; MAA: D 1912.70
Cultural Affliation
Material
Metal; Bronze
Local Term
Measurements
Events
Description (CMS Description)
Bronze socketed axe.
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: maa
Context (CMS Context)
(Bib): Coles, J.M. 1959-1960. 'Scottish Late Bronze Age Metalwork: Typology, Distributions and Chronology' in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. p. 73
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: Imogen Gunn
Context (CMS Context)
(Bib): Schmidt, Peter and Colin Burgess. 1981. The Axes of Scotland and Northern England. C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung: Munchen. p. 215, No. 1293, Pl. 86.1293. (accession number given incorrectly as D 1912.17)
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: Imogen Gunn
Context (CMS Context)
Marked 'SHETLAND' in white ink and 'DENBIGH COLLN' in black ink.
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: Imogen Gunn
Context (CMS Context)
This axe was entered into the 1921 Deposit register along with two other socketed axes (D 1912.68 & D 1912.69) in a joint entry which gave '1 marked Shetland' for Place. It is not clear whether the three axes were grouped together in this way because they were all from Shetland (even if only one was marked thusly) or whether it was simply for convenience and they had no relation to one another. When the axe was re-accessioned in 1925, it was grouped with D 1912.68 (for reasons unknown) to become 1925.339 B, and 'Shetland' was given for Place for both axes. This was probably based on the fact that one of the axes was marked 'Shetland' (as already noted in the 1912 deposits register). At some point, probably after the 1925 re-accessioning, the second axe was marked 'Shetland'. However, it is currently unknown which was marked first and which was marked later. The true locality of this axe is therefore quite unclear.
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: Imogen Gunn
Context (CMS Context)
This axe is part of the Pennant Collection, which was given to the museum on deposit by the 8th Earl of Denbigh on 10 August 1912 (see original list in archive, MM1/10/27), whereupon the axe was given the accession number D 1912.70. In 1925, the 9th Earl of Denbigh permanently gifted the Pennant Collection to the museum and all the objects were re-accessioned with a 1925 number, in this case 1925.339 B.
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: Imogen Gunn
Description (CMS Description)
Socketed axe, fine brown-green patina, black patches, mouth and blade hammered, blow-hole beneath loop. (Schmidt and Burgess)
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: maa
Context (CMS Context)
Catalogue card reads: 'A second socketed axe, from same collection [Pennant Collection], & marked Shetland (but by a later hand?). Doubtful if it actually comes from Shetland.'
Event Date 30/5/2014
Author: maa
Research Visit (Archaeology
Anthropology)
RES.2017.2383 | Researching David Pennant collections for a forthcoming exhibition on travel writing history at Dr Johnson's museum
Event Date 20/7/2017
Author: rachel hand
FM:267665
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