I am trying to hunt down photos of swords with type Z viking hilts for a possible upcoming project. Does anyone have some pics that they would be kind enough to share? Any with blade inlay would be particularly appreciated. I will get the ball rolling with a few myself... Thanks!

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Here's one I found, Tim:
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I absolutely love your taste in swords. Do you have a picture of your collection you might not mind posting for me to drool over?

Best,
Elias

Here is more detailed pic of the hilt of the sword in Kuresaare museum

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The Sollerön and Dybäck swords.

http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=836967
http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=108809

Well I have only had a chance to examine it through the glass in museum - I just checked with the original images I took on my last visit to the museum, and it is impossible to discern if there was any inlay or not due to corrosion damage. However, on the first oportunity I will have I will take a closer look at it, or maybe one of our friends from Estonia will get a chance to do so sooner than I will. I would say there is a good chance there was some sort of inlay work on the hilt at least - plenty of swords from same periof and region have them - you can see it clearly on the pictures from the same museum, and that sword appears to have been a fine specimen when it was made.

Cool photos...

The only thing I have like this is the Windlass damascus sword, loosely based on the Finnish type Z. It looks nice enough, but the blade is historically inaccurate for the hilt and its a real b**ch to handle with its sharp pointy furniture.

Looks like an interesting tax refund, I mean sword design, Holmes. ;)

Still looking for pics, if anyone has some please post... I'll post another one to start.

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Hi, Tim!

Some pictures from Regional Historical Museum - Vratza, BULGARIA

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The sword is dated to 10. - 12. C., a period which roughly corresponds with the destruction of the First Bulgarian Empire (end of 10. - first half of 11. C). There is still on-going debate about its origin - varangian, Rus, central-european, local copy.
From it only the hilt and just a tiny fraction of the blabe have survived. It was found near village of Gradeshnitza, Vratza Region in the North-west part of Bulgaria

From Kirpičnikov, "Old Russian Weapons," a Z and and a type II that looks Z-ish to me...

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I'm pretty sure I saw some in the galleries from the VIKVERIR website, but I'm not able to copy and paste the pics:

http://www.vikverir.no/museum_gallery.html

There are a number of these and closely related forms in István Rácz's photo book Viikinkien perintö. I don't have a scanner and my place is kinda cramped and poorly lit, so I'm sorry about the quality of my photos of his photos, but here you go... I'll translate the captions for everybody's convenience while I'm at it.

"86. A sword found in Södermanland, Sweden, made in the late 10th Century. - The sword's pommel is shaped like two bears looking in opposite directions. The pommel, upper guard and cross are decorated with spirals and animals with dotted bodies. The decoration is in the so called Mammen style. Södermanland Södertälje, SHM 20981."

(Perhaps not quite a type Z, with the curving instead of angled guards, but whatever, might as well throw it in. And I find these double-beast pommels an interesting variation on the five lobes of type Z.)



"87. Two 10th Century swords found in central Sweden. - There is silver inlay on the guards and pommels of both swords. Both blades feature a wide and shallow central groove, the purpose of which is to lighten the blade without compromising durability. The blade of the sword on the right has a "damascene" texture in the groove, produced by forging together different kinds of steel. Left Södermanland Österhaninge Norrby, SHM 20832. Right Dalarna Söllerö Bengtsarvet, SHM 22293."



"92. A sword, a battle axe and a spear from Sweden. - The axe's flats and the spearhead's socket are decorated with silver inlay. The sword's hilt is gold. A sword was a particularly valued gift that a king might give to a trusty hirdman or other favorite. The Kringla Heimsins epic tells of a sword by the English king Adalstein to his adopted son Hakon, later the king of Norway: "King Adalstein gave Hakon a sword, the grip and guard of which were gold. The blade was even better; with it Hakon cleft a millstone down to its hole. It was then called Millstonebiter. It is the best sword of all ever brought to Norway. Hakon had it until his death." The sword: Skåne Östra Vemmenshös, SHM 4515. The axe: Småland Hultsjö Prästgården, SHM 437. The spearhead: Öland Torslunda Kåtorp, SHM 14913."

(I included this one mainly because of the angled guards... the pommel is lost, but it could have been a five-lobed type Z, you know? :))



"98. Swords found in Finland. - The three swords on the left belong to the Viking period. The two hilts on the right are from a later date. They belong to the so called Karelia crusade period. [I think this refers to the Third Swedish Crusade.] A peculiar form of decorative art developed in Karelia in the 12th Century, combining ancient vine and animal motifs. Some of these were borrowed from Scandinavian Viking art. Left to right: Finland Proper Perniö Tiikkinummi, KM 7752:37. Finland Proper Maaria Taskula, KM 10842:39. Satakunta Vesilahti Hukari, KM 2886:11. Karelia Kaukola Kekomäki, KM 2995:75. Karelia Sakkola Kiviniemi, KM 7810."

It is listed as XII-XIII C., though he claims the hilt type can go as early as XI and as late as XIII C.
Loosely translated, he says:
“Type II. Swords with three-part bronze or iron, and central knob is usually somewhat bulged in width... It is very possible that this is an Eastern European form. In any case in Western Europe, such samples are unknown to us, except for Russia, they occur in the Baltic countries (for example, Passelse).”
I've attached a scaled drawing :cool:
OAL: 86.4cm
Blade L: 70.7cm
Hilt L: 15.6cm
Width near cross: 4.4cm
Width 3cm from tip: 2.1
Cross L: 14.5
Cross Width: 0.7
Width of tang: 1.7
Width of Pommel: 7.8
Height of pommel: 4.6

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Thanks for the great photos everyone! Keep them coming if you got them!