Hi everyone,

I found an interesting sword which is claimed to be Celtic. It is dated to the 3rd century AD and is found in Croatia. But I have my doubts about the age and origin. Could someone help me please? The sword is 65 cm long. Please find pictures attached.

Thanks in advance!

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I wonder about the " red rust ": To me this may be artificial aging or neglect in not stabilizing the rust in some way ?

I could be wrong but except for very old swords that are almost just rust some form of chemically neutralizing the rust would be what I would expect from a Museum piece ? ( Disclaimer: I'm not that knowledgeable about standards of restoration and preservation for Museum artifacts but " fakes " will at times be left very rusty to convince people who don't know better that the object is old ! ).

Anyway, fake or genuine I can't really tell you for sure.

( Note: I'm also assuming that the pic's colours are accurate in showing what I perceive as very rusty ).

this is an fake
and an ugly one

simple
it does not look like as an celtic sword not the slightest resemblance of an original
its an bar of iron peeded on to get some rust
neverless its from top to tip an crude fake
cheers

I doubt you can talk about specific Celtic swords from the 3rd C AD in Croatia.

The patina on the sword is suspect: it is gritty and red and still very superficial: such rust looks new. It is still eating away on the surface, but has not yet done any deep damage, nor has it transformed into thicker layers or deeper colors. You would expect the patina to be of a deep black, purple or perhaps dark brown with or without areas of deep pitting and flaking.

The grip is very suspect: it is made by a rather lazily twisted iron wire. This is not in line with any celtic sword I have ever seen.

The guard and pommel is not of a shape otherwise seen on celtic swords.

The blade is of a form that is not seen on celtic swords.

The strange shield shaped device below the guard does not look like anything you see inlayed on the blades of celtic swords, or any kind of scabbard mount used for celtic swords.

Overall the sword has an immature and rather clumsy design. It looks like a theatrical prop or something made to flicker by in a low budget film.

Oh great!

Mr. Johnsson chimes in right after my low-brow comment. Apologies to all!

I totally agree with Peter Johnsson. The blade looks more like a canaanite or mycenaean blade form, which were made of bronze, and not of iron. The thick iron crossbar is also highly unusual for a sword made before the 8th century AD. And 3rd century AD and Celts in Croatia, the famous whereabout for retired roman emperors, also makes no sense.

The date must derive from the ornament in the bronze sheet on the blade, somebody made it using a late roman 3rd or 4th century coin as guideline or even as stamp.

Looks like a stage weapon that was badly cared for, even 19th century would be very old for this one, it's more likely quite new.

Well, it's definately not a La Tene or Hallstatt design. Maybe the maker could have spoken some lingering remnant of a Celtic language ( :\ ), but that's as "Celtic" as this sword could possibly get. Gallic was still spoken in 3rd Century AD.