Scythian Dagger with Decorated Handle. 7th century B.C. A bronze dagger with a triangular decoration on the handle, the oval openwork pommel showing two facing mountain goats each with a single stylised horn; the short guard decorated differently on either side. See for Altai daggers of this typology Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003 (in Russian), see pl.VIII, nos.45,46,55, from Khakassia, the Basin of Minusinsk and Biysk (Altai). 81 grams, 23.5cm long (9 1/4 in.) Private collection of Mr M.B., Mainz, Germany, 1990s. Property of a London businessman. During the 7th-4th centuries B.C. the steppe people living beyond the borders of China created glorious nomadic cultures, including that of the Scythians along the Pontic area, the Sauro-Sarmatian culture in the Volga-South Ural region, the Saka culture in Kazakhstan, the Tagar culture in the Minusinsk Basin, the nomadic people in Altai and Tuva and the Slab Grave culture in Mongolia. Mountain goats with unnaturally elongated and dramatically curved horns are typical of the art of the Altai Nomads, or Eastern Scythians.

Fine condition.