12th-14th century AD. A bronze military standard or processional cross, shaped as a Greek cross, the tips of the upper cross arms wrapped with ribbed sheet metal strips ending with spherical ornaments; the lower shaft an iron truncated spearhead once socketted in a wooden staff, the lower surviving part of the head rivetted to the bronze cross with two parallel iron rivets. See Babuin, A., 'Standards and insignia of Byzantium', in Byzantion: Revue internationale des études byzantines, 71 (1): pp.5-59, for crosses used as military standards.307 grams, 31cm (12 1/4"). From an important private Dutch collection; formerly in the collection of Dr. Hanns-Ulrich Haedeke [1928-2017], author of ‘Schmuck Aus Drei Jahrtausenden’ and who became the director of the Museum of Klingenmuseum in Solingen, Germany, in 1968; the collection was formed in the early 1960s. The use and date of this cross could point to a military standard, confirmed by its lack of precious ornamentation, typical with ecclesiastical crosses of the period. For a corpus of Byzantine crosses see: John A. Cotsonis, Byzantine Figural Crosses, Washington DC (Dumbarton Oaks), 1994. The tripartite terminals reflect standard Eastern Roman style. A further example of this rare type of terminal is also on a bronze socketted processional cross (15 cm high) in a private collection in Munich attributed to the 12th century AD. (Exhibited: Byzanz - Das Licht aus dem Osten, Paderborn, 2001, no.1.52.1"). In addition, the style might represent a model made in haste in preparation for military action. Further confirmation of this hypothesis is that processional crosses are hafted onto a tine rather than, as in this example and others cited above, by a conical socket.