**AN ITALIAN HALBERD, EARLY 17TH CENTURY, PROBABLY VENETIAN with tapering central blade of flattened-diamond section, pierced with two long central slots and formed with an openwork basal collar, forward-leaning curved axe-blade pierced with a series of shaped apertures, pierced triangular rear spike, and a pair of straps, on a wooden haft 54.5 cm; 21 1/2 in head Provenance Liberty & Co., London, 2 March 1928 JWHA Inv. No. 513