Mid 1st-mid 3rd century AD. A double-edged iron sword of Pompeii typology with parallel cutting edges tapering towards the triangular point, battle nicks to the edges, shallow blood channel and long tang. See Curle, J., A Roman Frontier Post and its People, the Fort of Newstead in the Parish of Melrose, Glasgow, 1911; Bishop, M. C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment, from the Punic wars to the fall of Rome, London, 1993; Antonucci, C., ‘The Praetorians, the bodyguard of the Emperor Trajan, 2nd cent. AD’, in Ancient Warrior,1, Stockport, 1994, pp.3ff.; Feugère, M., Weapons of the Romans, Port Stroud, 2002; Bishop, M. C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment, from the Punic wars to the fall of Rome, London, 2006; Miks, C., Studien zur Romischen Schwertbewaffnung in der Kaiserzeit, I-II Banden, Rahden, 2007; for very similar specimens see Miks, 2007, n.A792 (Windisch, length 64 cm); A821 (Zwammerdam, length 71cm); A302 (Hofstade Steenberg, length 64cm); A369 (Korytnica, length 76.2cm); A354 (Klein-Winternheim, length 67cm).855 grams, 84cm (32"). Property of an English collector; acquired in the Netherlands before 2000; accompanied by an expertise by military specialist Dr. Raffaele D’Amato; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10397-169266. This kind of sword was much more suitable than the older Mainz typology for the fight against the Germanic tribes, allowing the legionary to deliver equally successful blows by stabbing and chopping. The specimen in question presents a very elongated blade and it is possible that it was used as weapon from horseback, representing a sort of transitional type between the short gladius and the long cavalry spatha. Similar long Pompeii blades specimens have been found in the Barbaricum (Korytnica) and in military camp of Germania Inferior (Zwammerdam) and although at first sight they seem more similar to later spathae, they are examples of the great variety of weaponry existing inside the Roman army, and of the way in which its structure was able to adapt itself to its various military needs. They also present a noteworthy problem in regards of dating, because without a precise archaeological context, they can range from the 1st to the 3rd century AD (specimens from Windisch, Zwammerdam").