More information : A loopless palstave was apparently found at Windmill Hill. The axe was formerly in the Ball collection, which was sold at Sotheby's in 1949. (1)
The Ball Collection appears to have been built up during the late 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century. By the 1920s, a substantial part of it appears to have been on loan to St Albans Museum. By the early 1950s, the collection had been broken up and sold, some of it through Sotheby's. The whereabouts of this particular item are unknown. Indeed, very little is known of this axe. No mention is made by Goddard (1911) in his list of Wiltshire Bronzes, nor is it mentioned by Rowlands (1976) in his gazetteer of Middle Bronze Age metalwork, although he does mention other items formerly in the Ball Collection. The Windmill Hill provenance is perfectly plausible, especially if it was found prior to Keiller's excavations at the causewayed enclosure. The whole area was a popular one with flint collectors during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (1-3) |