8th-11th century A.D. An iron T-shaped axehead with roughly rectangular-section shaft, shallow 'crescentic' blade with convex cutting edge and sub-rectangular socket; mounted on a custom-made stand. Cf. The Portable Antiquities Scheme Database, id.PUBLIC-A06518; LANCUM-085845; SWYOR-9334E2, for similar; cf. Evans and Loveluck, Life and Economy at Early Medieval Flixborough AD 600-1000 Vol 2, Oxbow, 2009, nos. 2453, 2454, 2455 and 2456, p.257 and pp.263-4. See Portable Antiquities Scheme, reference SWYOR-93AC56 (this axe). 785 grams total, axe: 15.5 cm wide (6 in."). Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Kettlewell with Starbotton, North Yorkshire, UK. Recorded with the Portable Antiquities Report (PAS) no.SWYOR-93AC56; accompanied by a copy of the PAS report. Acquired TimeLine Auctions, 30 November to 3 December 2021, lot 1289. Property of a London businessman. The associated PAS report judges this to be 'a find of note' and has been designated: 'County / local importance'. Iron axes of the Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) period are scarce finds in the United Kingdom, especially well-preserved examples. With the arrival of the Vikings, mostly from Denmark, in York (named by them as Jorvik; previously Eboracum in the Roman period and Eoforwic to the Anglo-Saxons) from the 9th century A.D., the local Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of southern Northumbria were pushed back or absorbed into the Viking culture, as the Viking influence spread across what is now northern England. Jorvik became a centre for Viking attempts to occupy Mercia, then ruled by Alfred the Great. At this time, England was divided into several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, including Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia and Kent (by then, as part of Wessex). The Saxon kingdoms were eventually united under Aethelstan with his conquest of York in 927 A.D.; ironically, with the accession in 1016 of Cnut, the Kingdom of England was then ruled by a Dane. Cnut could be said to have succeeded where the earlier Viking incursions at York and East Anglia had failed. [No Reserve]

Very fine condition, professionally cleaned, conserved and restored.