Circa 8th-7th century B.C. A bronze Sanguisuga type fibula with triple spiral spring and elongated catch-plate, carrying three small bird or duck protomes that have been soldered onto the fibula; the bow decorated with geometric pattern consisting of horizontal and diagonal line incisions. See a long curving bronze wire with thirteen birds from the Yale University Art Gallery (inv.1965.5), dateable to 8th to 7th centuries, may have been made for a tomb (cf. Teitz, R., Masterpieces of Etruscan Art, 1967, pl.2); for an almost identical fibula Jucker, Italy of the Etruscans, p. 61, no.57, who also references parallels from Tarquinia, Suessula, the Esquiline Hill, and tomb 917 in Capua; see Hencken, Tarquinia and Etruscan Origins, pl.134 and 135, for parallel from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Tarquinia; see examples in the British Museum (reg. no.1772,0309.3; and reg. no.1772,0309.5). 30.7 grams, 52 mm (2 in.). ACR Auctions, Munich, Germany, E-Auction 29, 21 September 2015, lot 95. Private Australian collection with collection number 15.06. Accompanied by an illustrated collector's cataloguing document. Fibulae were normally used by men, women, and children in antiquity to pin the ends of garments, often at the shoulders; and in the tomb, used to fasten a shroud or funerary garment worn by the deceased. Jucker, Italy of the Etruscans, p.56 notes that the sanguisuga and navicella fibulae (leech- and boat-shaped fibulae) started to develop around 800 B.C. and differ only in respect of the undersides which may be either open (navicella) or closed (sanguisuga). This is of the sanguisuga type. Birds are a common feature of Villanovan artefacts in a range of mediums. Similar duck-like birds are often incorporated in Villanovan horse-trappings and occasionally in other bronze objects. [No Reserve] For this specific lot, 5% import VAT is applicable on the hammer price