Well it was sometime in coming from the placing of the initial commission but this was to be expected as Patrick has a long waiting list but finally in the summer the completed sword and scabbard arrived. Patrick has placed some images of the sword on his site here.

http://www.templ.net/english/weapons-antiquit...152-spatha

I must admit I am very pleased with the completed sword and scabbard.

regards
Dave

He missed a bit....

;)

Amazing work. I hope you'll be very happy together.

That's just ridiculous. Wow. Congratulations!!!

Stunning piece (s) of work ! This really elevates the repro market to another level.
All for now, got to get out and buy a few more lottery tickets...

Absolutely beautiful; both the sword and the scabbard! May I ask what kind of wood the grip is made from?

I am soooo incredibly jealous right now. Stunningly beautiful work!

I have a project in the works at the moment, but I think after that the next thing I will be interested in is a ring-sword. In the mean time though I will drool over this. Absolutely wonderful piece... Very cool!

Excellent work, look forward to seeing it in the flesh sometime.

David, the sword is simply perfect!
Patrick is a master swordmaker and artist all in one. The lines, the proportions, he has such an amazing eye for detail.

I was leafing through his sword photos on his website to show my also historically inerested friends. It's so beautiful, it makesyou dream of having a sword like that. And now you do. One day I will too.

Dave, I almost cried when seeing this sword. Barta is a magician and you are a lucky bastard ;-) In fact when it comes to these swords and scabbards i cannot even choose which is the most beautiful...BOTH I guess !

btw with your vast archive... Which vendel period sword would you consider is the finest of them all ?

what a christmas gift

Stefan

Thanks guys for the comments and I'm sure Patrick will be equally grateful for your appreciation. It's a hard question you ask Stefan, I choose the Valsgarde7 spatha and scabbard mainly because its a part of an ongoing long term project but also because out of the two swords in the inhumation it has the most complete scabbard and because it is a ring pommel spatha. I would say I like all of the Vendel-Valsgarde swords but perhaps another stand out fav would be the Vendel I spatha because of the fantastic applied art.

The recreated spatha here is: overall length 897mm, blade length 736mm, blade width 49mm max, point of balance 100mm before the lower guard, weight 1480g. All bronze parts of the sword are gilted. The blade is with herring-bone pattern, with hardened steel edges. The guards are from two gilted hollow pieces (with wood core) and iron part inlayed by silver wire in the middle. The handle is from ebony wood. Metal parts of the handle and the pommel are engraved, on the face part of the pommel is a cloisonné work with 13 garnets from Tanzania, inlays 1,5mm thick. The engraved scabbard is made from nut wood covered by red cow leather.


best
Dave

Wowwwww. That looks great. Did you choose ebony for the grip, or did Mr. Barta? Would horn or stained wood have been favored historically?
Also, do you have it (at hand)? Will you share how it feels in-hand?

Hi

The choice of ebony was Mr Barta's although I did not specify the type of wood to be used I would perhaps have preferred a native species but still it suits me fine.

Unfortunately I have no photos of the spatha in my hand, suffice to say though it is extremely comfortable and light in my hand.

best
Dave

Its gorgeous my friend. Congratulations.

Very nice work!

The leather tooling does not match that on the original:

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/valsgarde.html

But it's a good attempt.

This is one instance that seems to prove that leather tooling WAS employed in the past, something that's very helpful in the work I'm doing. Amazing that any of this has survived the ages.

I'm jealous!

Enjoy your sword!

Hi David
I don't know how I missed this post but that is one stunning sword congratulations to you and Patrick.