I have recieved my newest sword from Robert Moc and thought I would share some photos. I have been interested in Baltic area swords of the 10th and 11th century lately which is where this one hails from. It is a specific Polish type, according to Lech Marek in his book "Early Medieval Swords from Central and Eastern Europe", of which this sword is on the cover. The distinguishing factor of a Piast type sword is that the hilt fittings are made from horn. In this case Robert carved them from 3 solid black pieces of horn. I am extrememly happy with the results. It's clear to see why Robert is one of the top, if not the top, swordsmiths available today. This sword is a work of art!

Stats:
OAL 39 inches
BL 32 inches
POB 6.5 inches from guard

It handles like a dream, although I am a bit hesitant to swing it around since the hilt is made from horn. I don't want to crack it, although it seems very sturdy no reason to press my luck. I especially like the contrast between the silver wire grip and the black horn. The scabbard is also a masterpiece, wool lined, wood core, covered in red leather with custom made fittings. I couldn't be happier with this piece.

I couldn't be happier with this piece. I have included some photos I took and one studio shot from Robert. There are more studio shots here:
http://www.robert-moc.sk/pages/gallery/mec-s-...tor577.php


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Congratulations Tim! That's a very unique and impressive piece.

Going by memory, I don't recall any surviving wire grip on the original. What guided that choice?

And what about the color of the horn? Is that natural or was it finished to be black? What type of horn is this? Is it known what type of horn was used on the original?

I think Robert said it was black buffalo horn. The horn is naturally black. I'm not sure about the horn on the original and it was unfortunately destroyed in WW2. As for the grip, the contrast between the black and the white was what led to that choice. I thought it would be nice to echo the silver of the wire in the pommel too. Cam e out very well, I think!

Good grief that's lovely. A fine bit of work and definitely the sword as art.

The black horn works so well with the silver wire, its inspired me on how to get a lovely matched pair of horns I have here, want a hunting and drinking set, def get them finished in silver now, lovely.

Hmmm, sword looked familiar ... similar to this one, a picture in a book I have called
Polish Arms / Side Arms by Andrzej Nadolski ... no mention could I find of the hilt
being made of horn, though ...



It says ...

Quote:

Sword of the 11th century found at Czersk Polski near Bydgoszcz

...

Is this similar or " the " sword, TL ?

And ... what would be the reason for a hilt made of horn ? is it just a ceremonial sword, or
something else ?

Very very interesting. I initially misread it thinking you said carved from iron...which was not computing in my tiny brain :D

Very cool sword. Congratulations.

Another extraordinary piece from Robert and Tim you must by now have an extraordinary collection.

I have not come across horn for these elements before either but a piece of horn that thick for the guard would still be incredibly tough so is not a bad choice from that point of view however I do wonder how the sword feels in hand due to the different balance.

Tod

The balance point is a bit further out than it would be if it had iron fittings. The blade is so well made (no surprise) that it feels excellent in hand. It's a slim blade with a fair amount of distal taper which must compensate a bit for the lack of weight in the hilt. It handles great!

Hi Tim.
Congratulations that is truly an masterpiece I relay like this one and yes Roberts attention to detail however so small is fantastic and his workmanship is superb as is his knowledge on this kind of sword.
Once again congratulations to you and robert

Nice sword and congratulations. First reproduction I have seen using that particular material for the hilt.

Wow, it came out superb Tim! I love the horn, and it is definitely an extremely unique piece.

Again, curious here, TL ...

Why not have the hilt furniture made of metal ? if just for the sake of the item's
durability ? Did you consider it at all ?

I'm kinda wondering if the material might not survive even the most accidental of
dinks or bumps. Or maybe, even, would react badly to aging, temperature change,
and humidity ...

No worries MGMK! Robert is really, really good. So many pieces on his website that I would love to own...

Hi all.At first I want to thank for all kind words.Matthew,I have book by A.Nadolski in polish language,and horn hilt on this sword is mentioned some times,particularly on page 36.Horn carving was new experience for me,and some times I was really hopeless...But after 3-4 days I understood this material,and I am satisfied with result.I was use black water buffalo horn.It is no exactly accurate,but european buffalo or european wild cow horns are not available.

Well Tim, you did it again. You commissioned another one of the rarely-seen types that I would most like to see reproduced.

Not trying to encourage you to take any risks with that beauty, but I just finished a sword with a very simple horn hilt, and it is very tough, though the surface scratches easily. Horn is a very practical hilting material, and I imagine that the large volumes that organic hilt components often have offsets the difference in density.

Any chance you could show us a nice closeup of the peen? Does it have a washer-like peen block or is it peened directly over the horn? I found that peening the tang over a horn pommel without a peen block can be pretty challenging, and I am very interested to see how Robert did yours. I have also found that the flexibility of the horn can make it tricky to seat the elememts exactly where you want them, so I am extremely impressed by Mr. Mocs work on this one.

@ Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz:

In this video of a lecture Roland Warzecha explains his thougts about grip-features of viking-swords an guards, that are made of horn, antler etc. (... look at ~ minute 19.30, but I hope you'll enjoy the whole video...):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhpqAGdZPc

Best regards from Cologne

Martin