Hello everyone!

I'd just like to complement you first on the wonderful forum you have here. I've been looking around for a while, and never have I seen such a wealth of knowledge in one place.

I'm interested in learning about pommel insets. I've heard that wheel pommels with recesses would sometimes have wax or enamel seals inserted, or sometimes coins.

I have a sword that has such a pommel, and I'm looking to perhaps place something in it to liven it up. However, I can't seem to find any information on the practice.

It would be great if perhaps I could see some historical examples, or ones that people have done themselves, as well as the methods by which such things were done.


Thanks in advance!

HI Corey,

Try this link: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1301 it's a great thread about inlaid wheel pommels. Scroll -ing through it, you'll find some great pics and references.

Thanks!

I looked through it, and while there are a few pictures, there isn't anything about what the inserts were made of, or how they were held in.

Hmm.

Coin like medallions were common suvenier items among pilgrimage routes or events. Other relics (strands of hair or bone maybe?, just speculating) may have been kept behind crystal lenses. There are several surviving swords that still retain a coin (the museum basis for the Albion Munich has a Vatican commemorative type coin featuring the Virgin Mary.)

I also wish I new how these were held in place historically. An adhesive might be plausible, and that is how some current collectors secure reproduction coins within reproduction swords.

Here's another topic that talks about this: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=10910

Enamel discs (Edward III sword, and numerous others), medal medallions (the Munich sword and others), and coins (the Type XV with a coin of the Duke of Urbino) were all known. Oakeshott mentions mastic (or more properly, an adhesive made from the mastic tree) being used to hold them in. In other cases, the rim of the recess was folded down over the edges of the inset, securing it in place.

Thanks Chad!

I think the only question is how I would go about doing this myself. I was thinking of perhaps filling the recesses in the pommel with some sort of molten metal, perhaps silver, then engraving a design into that.

Is there any historical evidence of wax seals being used? I know they were used to seal letters, but could they have been used in sword pommels?

Obviously, wax would be much easier to work with then metal or enamel, the only problem being how to keep it firmly fixed. I could then carve it and use different colours to crate a design.

Either that or a coin of the right dimensions.

If you use a coin or disk of metal that is fitted tightly enough you might be able to "stipple" it or peen it into place. A pointed punch like a center-punch can be used to make small dents around the edge of the coin in the pommel recess. The flash or burr created by these dents will create tiny lips that hold the piece in. This requires that the pommel and/or the coin be of at least semi-malleable material and will leave visible marks but is a possible alternative to adhesives.

Hi!
Maybe if the lip of the housing for a coin diverges originally towards the inside, one can simply warm up the pommel and put the coin into it, like done with modern bimetallic coins, or put an empty coin into the housing and punch the motif afterwards.
Cheers

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.


I guess I just need to find something the right size so I can epoxy it in. While the adhesives that they used historically may not have been that effective, I don't think they would have knocked it if they got had gotten their hands on some! ;)

Thanks everyone for your responses!

I was trying to find a coin or stone to put into my Type XIV pommel. both sides are different and finding just the right thing is tuff.
My wife put Amethyst gems in her Coustille dagger pommel. Looks nice.



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