Context (Analysis)
Catalogue card for Z 23210 notes that this object is 'erroneously described as a 'knuckle-duster'.
Event Date
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Context (Display)
Previously mounted on plain paper-wrapped display board with a handwritten label reading 'Caestus or 'knuckle duster' (bronze) (Weapon of defence used in boxing). Hungary. W.K. Foster Bequest, 1892. [Cat. p.35 XVII, 3.]'

Event Date
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Foster Bequest catalogue description: 'Caestus or 'knuckle-duster' (weapon of offence used in boxing) provided with two loops for the fingers and three projecting spikes.'
Event Date 1892
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Context (References)
cf. Smith, Reginald (1916). In 'Thursday, 30th November 1916'. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, vol. 29. pp. 24-41.
Event Date 1916
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Description (Physical description)
Accession register description for Z 23210[.1-2]: 'Two heavy bronze archer rings.'
Event Date 8/12/1977
Author: maa

Context (Analysis)
For similar see D 1921.128-129 and 1922.1335-1336.
Event Date 24/10/2000
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Context (Analysis)
The identification and purpose of this object has been much debated and remains uncertain, with interpretations including a 'bow-puller', a knuckleduster as part of a cestus (or caestus, a battle glove), and a horse amulet or part of a horse's harness. The Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania, has an example of this type of object in its collections (MS4040), which is described as both a knuckleduster and a bow-pull. Both object names have therefore been included in this record.
[See also Stevenson, C. (1912). 'So-Called Bow-Pullers.' Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum, 10 (40), pp. 55–59, and McDaniel, W. B. (1918). 'The So-Called Bow-Puller of Antiquity.' American Journal of Archaeology, 22 (1), pp. 25–43.].
Event Date 21/3/2024
Author: Lizzy Peneycad

Description (Physical description)
Copper alloy knuckleduster or 'bow-puller' comprising three long spikes between two oval rings. Each ring is decorated on the top with a phallic symbol in relief and an adjacent indented band filled with incised cross-hatching. Between the rings is the head of an animal, with two flat, triangular ears on the top of the head and a squared nose. Each spike has a triangular cross-section.
Event Date 21/3/2024
Author: Lizzy Peneycad