1st century BC-1st century AD. An iron military pugio dagger of period II, with prominent and rich decoration, comprising a short lanceolate blade with shallow midrib and acute edges, flat shoulders, narrow point, trapezoid-shaped guard with chamfered upper edges and two decorative studs, handle with central knob displaying a bronze stud, a semi-circular shaped pommel with two decorative studs; the hilt inlaid with copper and silver sinusoid and snake coils, the pommel with tetragammadion or solar symbol in the centre on each side, the central knob ornamented with chevrons. See Bishop, M.C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment, from the Punic wars to the fall of Rome, London, 1993; Bishop, M.C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment from the Punic Wars to the fall of Rome, London, 2006; Casprini, F. & Saliola, M., Pugio gladius brevis est, storia e tecnologia del pugnale da guerra romano, Roma, 2012, pp.120-121, for similar specimens.530 grams, 31.5cm (12 1/4"). Property of an English collector; acquired in Netherlands before 2000; accompanied by an archaeological report 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.10405-169268. The end of the 1st century BC, was the golden period of the pugio, the side dagger of the Roman legionary, in which the pugiones, having lost any characteristics in common with the Celtiberian culture from which it originated, became typically Roman. The size of the pugio in comparison with the previous specimens, slowly increased, and the dagger was transformed into an elegant weapon, very often coloured and with highly decorated hilt and scabbard. The shape of the superior pommel, having abandoned the traditional circular shape, was now a semi-circular or 'inverted D' shape, with flat upper edge.