Ancient Roman crossbow style brooch (fibula) from an old collection of Iberian items

$49.99

An ancient crossbow-shaped Roman brooch, known as a fibula, from a collection of Celtiberian items (see more info below). This brooch is missing the pin/catch system). The crossbow style is known to have been in use during the later years of the Roman Empire, circa 4th century AD.

This brooch is from a Celtiberian collection of artifacts. It is made of bronze. It measures approximately 47 x 40 x 10 mm.

Provenance -

Someone wrote, what appears to say "Libia" on the side. This likely coincides with the Roman Libia, located near Herramelluri, La Rioja in Spain.

We bought a collection of artifacts at auction in Switzerland (La Galerie Numismatique, September 28th, 2024); we are researching each object and offering them for sale individually. You can see the collection in the pictures we posted.

In the course of our investigation, we found that the artifacts had names of places in the Celtiberian region written on them, for example "Salienca". Also, the larger brooch design was unique to the Celtiberians (Google search "Celtiberian Fibula" to see similar examples). We've come to the conclusion that the collection is specific to the Celtiberian era/region.

Wikipedia tells us the Celtiberians "were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries of the BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo)."

Condition -
See pictures. Bronze is tarnished to green, with some dirt still on it. Missing pin/catch system. Someone wrote the place name on it.

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