RARE CELTIC WAR TRUMPET OR CARNYX DISCOVERED IN SUFFOLK SELLS FOR £4,216* AT DIX NOONAN WEBB - Discovered at a Valuation Day in Norwich -

A rare Celtic war trumpet, otherwise known as a Carnyx, dating from the 1st Century AD – which would have been used in battle and ceremonies as lip-reed instruments – sold for £4,216* at Dix Noonan Webb in their 2-day auction of Coins, Historical Medals and Antiquities today (Thursday, December 2, 2021). Estimated to fetch £2,000-3,000, it was discovered five years ago when Ivan Bailey was fixing the fencing around a grassy field at Bardwell in Suffolk, and the landowner let him search the field with a metal detector. After interest on the internet and in the saleroom, it was bough by an English Collector.

After finding just cartridge cases, Ivan, who has been metal detecting for 30 years and was using a XP Deus, got a signal and dug down eight inches, where he found the bronze trumpet in a lump of clay. He took it to Moyse's Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds, where it was recorded as a find of note and they said it had a striking resemblance to a Carnyx or war trumpet except it was much smaller.

Ivan, who is now 60, has been building fences since he was 14 and even fixes the fences at Sandringham on the royal estate and met the Queen at her Golden Jubilee Party. He will share the proceeds equally with the landowner. Following the sale, he commented: “I am very pleased how the sale went, I am just going to enjoy the money and possibly put some towards work on my holiday home overseas.”

As Nigel Mills, Consultant (Artefacts and Antiquities) at Dix Noona Webb, explains: “I first saw the miniature trumpet which dates from the 1st century AD, when Mr Bayley brought into one of Dix Noonan Webb’s Valuation Days in Norwich. It has a hollow slightly curved shaft with a snarling boar’s head at the summit with a wide open mouth projecting forwards and a series of curving crests along its back. There is a small opening behind the head which could have been for attachment of a wooden tongue.”

He goes on to say: “The only known Carnyx found in Britain was in 1816 in Deskford (Scotland) and was a lip reed instrument mounted on a vertical hollow pole with a mouthpiece at the bottom – it is now in the National Museum of Scotland. Three Carnyx players are illustrated on the famous Gundestrup cauldron, which is on display in the National Museum of Denmark. We were very pleased with the result of this very rare item.”

****PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PRICE INCLUDES 24% BUYERS’ PREMIUM***