C.L.


Thank you for the really wonderful pictures. Considering the conditions you had to cope with you did a stupendous job.

I have to ask this, in the first batch of photos you sent there is a picture of a pretty sturdy Viking sword with the lobed pommel.
Do you know what the actual handle is made from? I ask for two reasons; first because it's my understanding that there are almost no Viking age swords that have the existing handle material present and second because I once had an original Marbles hunting knife with the leather ring handle that some fool put in our dishwasher and the handle came out looking like that. I was not amused!

Thanks,


Ken Speed

CL......

Thanks! I always like to see new dirks or baskethilts. Could I possibly impose on you to email me the frames showing the dirk and the German baskethilt? I printed them off the Forum posting but the resolution wasn't
too great. I keep a scrapbook of such items that interest me and aren't elsewhere published and I would like to add these to the collection. Many thanks in advance for your consideration.

George

Thanks, C.L.! Your photos are great, espeically having been shot through optically-impaired glass.

I'm amazed at the level of preservation for a few of those Viking and knightly swords. Did the display indicate where the better-preserved specimens were found?

WOW! Great photos! Thanks for sharing these. I love the Viking swords. I also really like the one with the type N (?) pommel. It's very unusual!

Great photos! I went to ROM during the summer but silly me didn't bring a camera along, didn't know how they would take to that. The selection of photos provided were more than generous, however, did you happen to by chance get a look at the pole arms and the two-handed sword in the lobby? when I was there I became quite fond of that sword :). Again thanks for the great photos!

Nicholas

CL, It's funny, I was just in the ROM the other day taking pictures which also intended to post here, but mine did not turn out as well as yours (see below, not enough flash I guess). What particularly interests me is their showpiece viking sword (the one mounted at an oblique angle which also appears in several of your pictures)

Here is the museum's on-line description:

"Viking sword (steel or iron, copper, silver), 900-1000 AD
Steel or iron blade; iron pommel; copper and silver inlay on hilt; hand-forged, chiselled and/or filed and inlaid.
Centimetres: 95.9 (length overall), 80 (length of blade)
900-1000 AD
Viking; 10th century AD; Pommel: Wheeler-Oakeshott typology, Type VII;
Area of Origin: Germany or Scandianvia; Baltic Region
Area of Use: Dredged from the Thames at Vauxhall (London, England); Fairly wide distribution; possibly carried by ship by Viking raiders. A type widely used in Europe and found in Scandinavia, Britain, in rivers along the western coasts of France. Examples have been found in the Scheldt, the Thames, the River Lea, and at York, as well as from the Seine at Paris.
Arms & Armour, Samuel European Galleries, third floor
928.42
ROM2004_1029_14"

What gets me every time I see this sword is how much it looks like a medieval type XIV in profile. Imagine that, a 10th century viking sword that looks and probably handles like a much later sword type. Very cool. I wish someone would seriously consider replicating this sword (or that I had the disposable income for a custom job.)

Now, don't quote me on this, but I heard that if you email the muesum, they will actually send you a photograph of any item that you wish.

Also, I'd like to let people know that I am heading to the ROM this weekend, so if anyone wishes for photographs of particular pieces, I'd be more then happy to try to help. :)

Wow C.L. Those are great!

I love the early Type X with the copper inlay. Many of those Viking blades are in fantastic condition. Sorry if I missed it, but were any of those viking pieces found in the North America, or are they all European or Greenland and Iceland finds?
Thanks again for the great pics, now I have another reason to move to Canada!

That last viking sword is a real beauty. Wouldn't mind seeing it reproduced. :)

J.D. Crawford, the Viking sword that you are referring to was presented to the museum by the late Dr. Sigmund Samuel in the '20s and here's the photo.
[ Linked Image ]

CL,


I have to say that my heart belongs to that seax in the first picture here. I think the proportions are beautiful and I can't help but wonder what it looked like a thousand years ago. It is amazing to me that so many seaxes look so much like Bowie knives I guess it is a tribute to the timelessness of a good design. Do you happen to remember its approximate length or should I e-mail the ROM?


Thanks


Ken Speed