Thought I would share the pictures I took during my last visit at the British Museum. I can post only a few here so feel free to check my picassa web album:

http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc158/balt...%20Museum/

Should you need pics of a specific item, don't hesitate to ask as I spend most of my lunch breaks there lately (it's 5/10 min away from my workplace).

I originally went there to get some shots of the River Witham Sword, but the glass enclosure is very thick and the lightning quiet tricky...so I'm afraid the results are fairly random. The rest is fine.

Sample below.

Cheers,

J

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Wow, that a LARGE calibre pistol or whatever ! I assume it might be a hand portable mortar or grenade launcher or might be used as a monster shotgun with a large pellet count but with a modest powder charge giving low velocity and manageable recoil ........ just a guess.

The style of furniture/stock gives me the impression it might be a wheelock ( originally, if it still has a lock ..... can't see it from this angle ). Looks like something mid 16th to mid 17th century in style of stock ??? ( Could be 18th century ? ).

Hi jean,

Damn, so much for taking the time to add comments/notes to that Picassa gallery :)

You are right, it's one of the rare surviving grenade launchers (hand-mortar) of the late 16th century. It's a combined wheellock and matchlock, made in Germany (it bears the mark of Nuremberg craftsmen apparently). I'm usualy quiet unimpressed by firearms, but this one gun is arresting! Probably not a very accademic reference, but I coudn't help thinking about those game workshop oversized dwarves guns often depicted on their warhammer fantasy battle boxes...

Cheers,

J

Hi all,

Just wanted to test photobucket's thumbnail mode with this gallery (hope this complies with forum policy). I loaded these on photobucket a while ago after a short trip to the British museum and since I'll be posting a fair amount of pictures I recently took at the musee du moyen age in paris as well as from the musee de l'armee, I figured I'd go for the easiest upload technique I could find. I didn't have time to provide commentaries but you'll recognize a few famous swords below I'm sure, especially the river witham sword.

Cheers,

J

Thanks Julien - I was kicking myself for not taking pictures when I visited in the Spring - I think you captured everything that I found interesting. I find it hard to get good shots in museums - you did great.

What they have on display is quite impressive and beautiful (especially the early Britain section - as I recall there were only two swords in the Medieval section and I think you got both of them). But still I was perplexed and frustrated that some of the most famous Viking swords attributed to this museum -such as the Witham Leuterit, and the Thames Ingelri- were not on display. When I asked a staff member,he was not very helpful, basically telling me that 'everything we have is on display right here". I could not find any evidence of them either in their bookstore.

Does anyone know where those swords are? Did I miss them somehow? Was all of that stuff moved to the tower armory (or whatever it is called now) or sent on permanent loan somewhere else?

Wow! I particularly like that set of knives. That complex hilt is quite something too.

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Thanks Guys,

I struggled to get a clear picture of the set of knives and as you see i partly failed (my usual technique consist of taking 20 picts or so of the same object to end up with a couple of good shots :). The glass enclosures in the british museum are wide and make the use of the flash an absolute nightmare...getting through the glass without flash is no pleasure cruse either! I was after the scabbard to get a clear view of the leather toolling and at least I got that :)

There will be more to come, as well as separate posts for cluny, the musee de l'armee and the royal armouries at leeds.

Cheers,

j

Good stuff Julien!!! I love the wolf's head scabbard mount. Looking forward to seeing your posts of other museum photos. Thank you!

As per Julien's suggestion in my thread on the exhibition at the Cluny Museum this summer, I've managed to wrestle out my other sword pictures from spending a month in London. Since this is the British Museum thread, here they are! Julien has already captured most of the artifacts I took snapshots of, but it's always nice to see other angles. :)


Onward to pictures! Be warned--there are a lot of 'em!

Here we go.


Here's the entrance to the museum, then the great courtyard within.



One of my favorite halls (on the east side) where they preserved the look of some of the earliest days of the collection.
Lots of dusty old books behind glass and random instruments placed next to unrelated things in display cases, with a marble sculpture thrown in here and there. Sheer madness.


One of the aforementioned nifty instruments, sharing a case with a nice mace.




Onward to swords and stuff!

A couple African sword-like implements


A carved ivory Roman sword hilt. Spatha, probably.

Bronze spearheads and engraved spear butt, Greek.


Corinthian helm, Greek

cuirass


Roman helm, for a gladiator

Scabbard fittings


...More in a moment.

More photos. :)

Some more spears and a dagger:

One of my favorite bronze leafblades, very dramatic distal taper.


Roman Gladius and Scabbard


A hall holding many pieces from the Parthenon.



The Rosetta Stone, why not?


The boss from a roman shield, and some pieces of the soldier's kit.






This next one is one of the most striking swords I've seen in-person (which surprised me, considering its apparent simplicity). Double fullered, with a gold inlay--everything about its proportions looks precise and appropriate and deadly. I adore this one. This is the inspiration for Albion's Vigil.

The mail displayed next to the sword, alternating rows of riveted and solid links.


Ceremonial sword of state from the 15th century belonging to the Prince of Wales. Likely it belonged either to Edward, son of Edward IV and who would become King Edward V, or it belonged to Edward, son of Richard III. This is why the repetition of names is sometimes frustrating. :lol:





Some lovely knives, with scabbard.




Roman buckles, from the earlier "soldier" display:


Medieval buckles



A nicely formed blade, can't remember the identity or read the info cards. :oops:



Crazy bronze Celtic time! :D







...more to come

More bronze! More!

This next one has been reconstructed by Jake Powning:
http://www.powning.com/jake/commish/Cunobellin.shtml



MORE. La Tene all over the place.









Some bronze leafblades.







.....

:eek:





Slender sword with a hilt like an ear dagger. Wild.



Sasanian swords from Iran, 6th-7th century AD.
Gold and silver mounts.




The Battersea Shield. Absolutely wonderful.






Migration and Viking stuff!



WHOA.



This is the smallest viking sword I've ever seen. The perspective isn't fair because the glass (and therefore my hand) is about 10 inches away from the artifact, but STILL. This was tiny. And lovely. For a child, perhaps?

Viking. :cool:







The attention to detail on some of these pieces is out of this world.



A BIG inlaid seax with very robust spine.




River Witham Viking sword.


More seax:




Now we start getting to the fancy stuff:

Another nice piece:



...Sutton Hoo.


....






Gold and garnets aplenty.







...