Just now i saw this image on the Order of the Marshall's facebook page http://armsandarmor.tumblr.com/post/245291717...uisite-and
it shows a axehead, and a sword, both with silver work on it.. supposedly found in 10th centry womans grave in finland
what IMMEDIATELY rings several alarm bells and red flags was the shape of the pommel and the crossguard,
I'm no expert but it looks NOTHING like any viking era lade i have ever seen.

I'm curious if anyone could shed light on it, I'm thinking its perhaps a much later sword dressed up to look viking in its embellishments

thanks :)

i would agree that this sword looks like it belongs to a different century. its not what comes to mind when you think of a Norse style sword in the 900's however - no I'm not an expert either i'd also like to see what others have to say about it.

the detail of inlay is very impressive.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...nish+sword
http://www.hermann-historica.de/auktion/hhm59...at59_a.txt
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=78073
general consensus seems to be 11th or 12th century

Leppaho found a number of silver inlaid sword with wheel pommels in Finland that are dated to the end of 10th or 11th C. While elaborate, this is not anachronistic when compared to the other swords Leppaho documented from Finland.