The ‘Helmet with Heroes’ or the ‘Hungarian helmet,’ made of gold, a unique piece originating from the Black Sea basin area, is set to be sold at an auction organized by the Artmark Auction House based in Bucharest.
The ceremonial helmet, placed between the Scythian world of the Black Sea, the craftsmanship of Hellenistic workshops, and the Pontic space, dates from the 4th to the 2nd centuries BC. It is a rare piece that spans two millennia and has a starting price of EUR 25,000.
After it was discovered in the 1970s in Iran, the helmet was owned by a royal family from Central Asia, from where it was acquired by Dr. István Zelnik, one of the most important European collectors of Eastern European and Asian antiquities. He founded a museum in Budapest that once housed one of the largest private collections of gold artifacts originating from Asia.
The helmet is similar to others from the Thraco-Scythian space discovered in present-day Romania and Ukraine. Until 2014, the gold helmet was part of the patrimony of the “István Zelnik Collection” Museum. The piece is currently proposed for classification in the national cultural heritage.
“Artmark offers to the public a piece that is certainly unique. It allows a collector to pass through a history of possibly over 2,000 years of prestigious objects, but also of European and Oriental mythology,” stated Prof. Dr. Carol Căpiță of the Faculty of History within the University of Bucharest. He also compared the helmet to similar pieces like the now-lost Coțofenești helmet.
Artmark’s Historical Art auction will also offer bidders rare coins and several katanas sought after by collectors.
The event is scheduled for March 31 and will take place both at the Cesianu-Racoviță Palace, on C.A. Rosetti Street no. 5, and online, on the Artmark Live Platform.
(Photo source: press release)
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