I have, in Fig. 72, engraved for comparison a larger specimen in my own collection, which came from the Valley of the Rhine, near Bonn. One from Baden[285] is figured by Lindenschmit.
—— Fig. 71.—North Owersby. ½ ———— Fig. 72.—Bonn. ½
Others have been found near Landshut,[286] Bavaria, and in the Rhine district.[287] One with a loop, from Hesse,[288] is engraved by Lindenschmit. A long and narrow example of this type[289] was found at Villeder, near Ploërmel, Morbihan, and has been figured by Simonin. There are specimens in the museums at Rouen and Tours. Some have a loop on one face. A specimen from Escoville is in the museum at Caen. Several with and without loops have been found in the Swiss lake-dwellings,[290] the type being termed the Hache Troyon by Desor.[291]
A beautiful palstave of the same character is preserved in the Antiken Cabinet at Vienna. Its sides are ornamented with four small sets of concentric circles and a pattern of dotted lines, punched in after the instrument was fashioned. The form has also been found in Italy.[292]
Palstaves without loops, but of which no detailed description is given, are recorded to have been found at the following places:—The Thames,[293] near Kingston; Drewsteignton,[294] Devonshire; Cundall Manor,[295] North Riding, Yorkshire; Aspatria,[296] Cumberland; Ackers Common,[297] near Warrington, Lancashire; Bushbury,[298] Brewood, Handsworth, and a barrow on Morridge, Staffordshire; near Llanvair Station,[299] Rhos-y-gad, Anglesea.
Palstaves of which it is not specified whether they were provided with a loop or no, have been found in the Thames,[300] near London; the old River, Sleaford,[301] Lincolnshire; Canada Wharf,[302] Rotherhithe; Wolvey,[303] Warwickshire; and near Corbridge,[304] Glamorganshire (?).
Plain palstaves without loops have frequently occurred with other forms of instruments in hoards of bronze objects. The following instances may be cited. Several were found with unfinished socketed celts, fragments of swords and spears, a socketed chisel, and lumps of metal, at Romford,[305] Essex. At Nettleham,[306] near Lincoln, one was found with looped palstaves, socketed celts, spear-heads, and a tube, most of which will be mentioned in subsequent pages. In the hoard at Battlefield,[307] near Shrewsbury, a palstave without loop, a flat wedge-shaped celt, and three curious curved objects were found together. Other instances are given in Chapter XXII.
The palstaves which are provided with a loop on one side present as many varieties as those without the loop. The same character of ornamentation occurs on the instruments of both classes. Indeed, for some length of time both forms appear to have been contemporaneous and in use together.
Some of them are, however, entirely devoid of ornament, as will be seen from Fig. 73. This represents a palstave in my own collection found near Dorchester, Oxfordshire. The loop has unfortunately been broken off. At the stop the metal is 1¼ inch thick, but the diaphragm between the two recesses for the haft is only ⅜ inch thick. This specimen is shorter than usual in the blade, which not improbably has been considerably worn away by use.