Object: Double Axe
Period: Bronze Age
Collection: British Museum, 1933.4-6.126,BRM Dept. Rept. In Bequest of R Garraway Rice, Exp, F.S.A., received April 1933; has been in his collection since January 1913 - see statement on label quoted opposite.
Site: England,Devon,Topsham,'Found by a labourer circa. 1911 while digging "in a market garden near Mount Howe, Topsham, Devon, about 4 miles from Exeter"; came into possession of H. Wilson HOlman, Esq., FSA during Summer 1912, who presented it to the under-signed in January 1913. R. Garroway Rice, FSA',(Label in Mr. Rice's hand on hand to which axe was fixed in his collection - preserved in British Museum as document.)
Parish: Topsham
County: Devon
Country: England
Year of discovery: 1911
Weight (g): 714
Patina: Origionally dirty greenish black more golden-brown after BM Laboratory treatment.
Composition: Copper-rich bronze (Copper 94.3; Tin 3.3; Lead 1.5; Antimony 0.7)
Description: Cutting edges blunt and chipped, one very considerably. Wings of the blades symmetrical; however on socket rather elongated at the ends in its wider part.,Chemical Analysis (B.M. Laboratory, Nov. 1937) gave these figures, so might be called copper rather than bronze.
Remarks: CF. Specimen of similar shape from Whitby, N.R. Yorks.,AOK (Section)