Ralph Rudolph wrote: |
Gordon,
I have seen the original XVIII.8 of Records in the Wallace Collection two years ago and fell in love with it. I sketched it, as they did not have a printed catalogue available (later the extremely friendly curator provided me with a large high resolution picture they took for preparing a catalogue). You cannot imagine my surprise when I saw your Peter Lyon sword here, which resembles the original so much (it has no hollow grinding though). Congratulations to this beauty and outstanding acquisition (which I no doubt would love to add to my own collection ... ) Ralph |
Thanks Ralph. At one point I had some detailed meausements of the sword, kindly sent from another forum member, but I lost them in a move. From those, I remembered that the blade was quite thick near the grip (was that your impression from seeing it in person?). Peter and I decided on hollow grinding to allow a thicker blade spine without adding too much weight. The Records picture also gives a bit of that impression.
While I love the detailed reproduction like Peter Johnsson does, where he studies a sword carefully and makes an exact as possible replica, neither of these could be that, since neither sword was available to either Patrick or Peter. Basically, my input was that I loved those swords, and they went from there, with some discussion (the hollow griding, the fancy carved grip from Barta, and how to interpret the Type XX blade from the not so good pic in Records). It is a testament to their skill that both swords came ou so well, I think.
The A&A Henry V sword that should be finished in the next few weeks, is another story. Craig has at least seen the detailed Oakeshott notes and sketches, and I was going for something as close to the original as I could get. They are making a pommel in the same manner as the original, with the hollow ground blade. With that one, I was infatuated more by Oakeshott's description and obvious love for the sword, than by the appearance.
Gordon