I brought y'all back some candy from various London museums, including the Museum of London, Museum In Docklands and Tower of London. Ask questions about anything you see below. I have higher resolution versions of all of these and can pick out specific details upon request.

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Okay Sean, you knew I was going to ask, in all your travels did you take any pictures of scabbards?

Here are a few more images, with emphasis on a very short hanger from a temporary exhibit at the Museum in Docklands (enjoy, Eljay!):

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I have some questions about the grip of the sword shown in the first post above. The image below is a b&w detail of the grip, and it looks to me like the wrap consisted of leather over wood, with a single thick wire chasing a thicker braided(?) cord. Turks Heads top and bottom. I don't recall seeing braided wire like this. Is this actually just two well-fit strands of twisted wire? Does the leather sound right? There seems to be a remnant of something between wood and wire, but I can't tell what it is. Could this be missing an even smaller guage wire "background"?

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Did you by any chance capture any of the early medieval stuff from the Museum of London? In particular the bone sword hilt components and seaxes?

Sean

Do you have any more pics of the spear and some information to share about the spear? (Origin / time period / dimensions etc).

Which museum is it from?

Its look similar to the spears in the attached pics.

Unfortunately I don't have any information about the spears I posted. If anyone has information please share.

The pic of the spear with the Partisan, Combination Holy Water Sprinkler-Gun & Gun Shield is from the book "The Armour & Arms of Henry VIII" by Thom Richardson (Published by the Royal Armouries). Its on the contents page with no caption and it doesn't appear elsewhere in the book.

Would all these spears be in the same category provided there is categories of spears??

Thanks

Danny

Danny,

Most of those shots loook to be from the Frazier in Louiseville, Kentucky.

These are wonderful spears, aren't they? They're from the reign of Henry VIII, so early 16th c. Apparently, they were made for his guard. I recognize the series of photos posted above from the Frazier International History Museum in Louisville. My photos are from the Tower of London, where there are several such weapons. These are broad-bladed heads with internal sockets created by forming two leaves of the head around a mandrel, then forge-welding together the leaves and withdrawing the mandrel (the same way halberds of the period were made). It looked to me like the examples I saw at the Tower were a little over 6', which seems reasonable given their purpose and the size of the head.

All the examples of these spears I've seen have the same little cog-like maker's mark on the head, and IIRC these were imported from Italy. I'd LOVE to see somebody reproduce one of these, but I suspect that the process of creating the internal socket would make the project prohibitively expensive.

Hi Sean,

We must have been at the Tower at the same time! I was there on Easter Sunday just gone with the wife and the kids. I got some photos, but only of stuff everyone's seen already, i.e. Henry VIII's armours etc.

Hisham

Thank you very much Sean for sharing these wonderful pictures. Did you see any Persian or Chinese weapons?

Kind regards

Manouchehr

Sean-

Thank you for the images. Do you have the suspected dates for the ballock dagger at the beginning of your phots? Also, do you have a photo that shows the "pommel" more directly?

Thank you,

-Paul

Manuoucher: This will kill you, but I have to admit that I barely glanced around me while hurrying through the Wallace Collection's room of Eastern arms and armour. It is as spectacular as the Western collection, of course, but I had only a very brief time to study the main objects of my interest. You MUST visit the Wallace Collection the next time you are in London if you have never done so. Better yet, visit the Museo Stibbert in Florence. The Stibbert collection may be the West's finest collection of Eastern arms and armour. It has the added advantage of the best items of Western arms and armour you've never seen, most of it out in the open rather than behind glass.

Kirk: Thanks! I wondered if this was the type of grip at which Eljay excels. I may try it. :eek:

Paul: IIRC, the ballock dagger is 15th c. I tried to photograph the pommel but it was above my head and in low light. This is the best I could do with a shaky overhead extension and indirect viewing. It looks to me like there's a brass washer held in place by a rim of brass, with a roughly square nut of short , hollow-ground pyramidal form. The nut is engraved with radiating lines, like a sunburst. Sorry about the image quality. :blush:

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Sean-

No problem at all! I'm happy to get an image of any quality :) The photo certainly gives me a good idea of how the pommel looks.

Thanks for your reply,

-Paul