Hi there,

does anyone have a review of the Albion Kingmaker?

Am also interested if anyone has done any customisation or had a scabbard made?

Many thanks

Jason

I've got one on order with Abion with blued furniture and a magenta(?) grip. It should be here in early November so I'll post pics when I get it. Not to get off topic but I'm looking for a replica coin to inset in the pommel which is .85-.87 inch in diameter. Anyone have any ideas?

ahhh,cool, I have just ordered one, but have not yet decided on the grip colour, am torn between ox blood and the light campaign brown??????????????? I changed my order from one I placed in July, so I am not sure what my turnaround will be, hopefully I keep my place in line?

I am in the process of getting some quotes on getting a coin made with my family grest engraved on it. Is the measurement you have given accurate, wonder if .85 would be the best bet? I was going to go for silver and probably chemically blacken and the rub to reveal silver highlights.

I will let you know what the price is when I get it.

here is the link http://www.irishjeweler.com/

if anyone has any better ideas please let us know?

Cheers

Jason

I asked Mike when I placed the order and he told me one number. Then someone on one of the forums quoted the other. I figure it is easier to downsize it than make it bigger so I would go with the .87
I was trying to find a replica coin from a similar period like a Henry V or something. The family coat of arms is a good idea though. There is a guy I have seen at a fair that does cut outs of different coins and then gold plates them. I'm going to check with him this weekend if he shows up at the arts and crafts fair here. This is his website:

http://internationalcutcoins.com/exhibits.cfm


PS if you are going for an antiqued look I think the campaign brown would look cool. I'm going to do that when I get around to ordering a crusade era sword.

Not sure if this is too off-topic from the thread, but how are you going to attach the coin into the pommel? Glue seems like cheating to me for some reason.... :lol:

Hi Addison and Chad,

Thanks for both asking and answering my next question! :D

Cheers

Jason

Roger,

thanks for the site I'll check it out.



I just got the UPS tracking number from Albion and my sword is being delivered today!!!!! (Almost month and a half early)

And of course I'll be at work :mad:

Tomorrow I'll take some pics of it and post initial thoughts

Congrats on your new purchase.

just a matter of personal opinion, but why would one put a coin in a sword of such worth? surley a relic, or something more sentamental would fit better. that's just my take.

Aaron

OK I have the sword in hand. First impressions: Nice fit and finish. The bluing has an almost antique look to it and is a matte finish. The hollow grind on the blade is more subtle than I thought it would be. If I hold it up next to my Agincourt I can see the difference in how the blade is ground but from a distance it's not that noticeable. The Magenta grip looks better in person than in the photo (not quite so purple). The seam on the grip is the best of any of my Albions and I had to look real hard to even find it. The blade is also the sharpest of any of the Albions I own. I have a Sovereign, Agincourt, Crecy, Gallowglass and St Maurice and I would put this one at the top on a scale of which feels the most deadly in the hand (although the Sovereign is right up there and has more blade presence). I did a rough measurement of the pommel recess and it seemed to be about 7/8" which could vary from sword to sword. Here is a pic.
PS Aaron, I would put something more precious if I had it but I thought a cut out gold coin would look pretty cool with the blued furniture. Just personal preference I guess...

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Looks great! I also considered putting something into my Windlass Type XIV like a stone or something. Never thought of a coin though.

The pommel insert coin might not have to be a regular circulation coin. During the 12th through 16th centuries there were lots of pilgramage and religious medallions made and sold. For several centuries, adding the status of having participated in crusade, or belonging to various elite orders seems to have been pretty important to politically powerful knights. I suppose an actual king would be that proud of having his own reign's currency. But, something other than currency might be more believable for the opposite side of the pommel if you already have currency on one of the sides.

According to Peter Johnson, a Catholic votive medallion remains in one side of the 15th century Bayerisches Museum sword pommel that inspired the Albion Munich. The pommel side exposed for display view (and commonly photographed) is empty and speculated to have contained a relic or jewel. http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ght=munich

P.S. Gorgeous sword. Congratulations Nathan!

As the discussion is about the Kingmaker hopefully this is not off topic.

Nathan Keysor, it amazes me that the Kingmaker is the sharpest of all your Albions. I assume you are talking about the blade edge and not simply the point.

As the Kingmaker is a Type XVIII (although single handed not a longsword) I thought the edge geometry would be very similar to that of a Regent, of which mine has an edge that I can easily run my finger down. This has been subject to some dulling through a polishing process I have subjected the sword to but even out of the box the Regent was nowhere near as sharp as my Knight. The Regent still cuts very well however.

At a guess I would have thought the Knight is more similar (not the same) to all of your cut oreintated swords and therfore they would be sharper than the Kingmaker. Would there really be that much of a difference between the sharpness of a single handed XVIII and a two handed XVIII?

I am not at all questioning your comparative assesemnt of the different swords sharpnesses but am simply confused as to the appparent difference between two swords (Knigmaker & Regent) that essentially have a blade that I would have thought would have the same or at least similar blade geometry and sharpness.

Nice collection of Albions by the way, some of my favourites are in there.

Paul,
My Regent is very, very sharp and was that way right out of the box. My guess is that it varies. My Sovereign wasn't terribly sharp when I first got it, but it came back from a blade polish/resharpen much, much sharper.

Nathan.

If I could just ask, does the Kingmaker have much secondary bevel where it has been sharpened? I have the A&A Henry V with the hollow-ground blade, and the depth of the grinding, and secondary bevel from sharpening, are both very noticeable. As with your Kingmaker, the sword is very sharp, point and edge.
Also, as with your Kingmaker, this is the sword that feels most deadly in hand. I think that the Diamond section may deceive some people into thinking that these swords are primarily for thrusting, from my own experience with this sword I would say that is simply not the case. To me these are very effective cut and thrust swords, designed to deal with opposition regardless of the armour being worn.
One other thing that I am curious about is the balance. Although the Kingmaker is obviously based on the Henry V sword, I've noticed that Albion have given it a blade that is about 3-4 inches longer than the A&A sword. I would say that the Henry V is probably the quickest sword I own with regards to recovery after the cut, and this is from someone whos' first proper sword was an Albion Thegn, which is pretty damn quick! Do you have an opinion on the Kingmaker in this regard now that you've actually held it?

Cheers,
Darrin.

ps,
it was good to see the pictures of your swords' hilt. I recently ordered an Albion Reeve with the blued hilt and now I have some idea of what it should look like :)