Posts: 106 Location: Peru
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:04 am
Several antiques from the local castle (~1 mb of pictures)
Last edited by R. Laine on Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:26 am; edited 2 times in total
Posts: 106 Location: Peru
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:06 am
Posts: 176 Location: Kontiolahti, Finland
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 7:16 am
Hello, are these from Hämeenlinna-castle? I haven't been there my self and have wondered if it's worthwhile. Now it seems it is. I was disappointed of Savonlinna's castle because they didn't have any medieval stuff there. Russians had looted all the good stuff :mad:
About the pics. If you look at the sword without the pommel, you can see how the natural curve of the knuckle bow gets bent at one point. So my guess is, when the pommel was lost, the knuckle bow was bent towards the end of the tang to prevent the weapon from slipping from hand. But it seems it has had a pommel at one point.
Posts: 106 Location: Peru
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 7:31 am
Yep. In addition to these, there are several quite nice polearms and a couple of sabres and rapiers there, but that's pretty much it.
That's a pretty good guess about the missing pommel. Now that I think of it, it'd also explain the shortness of the tang if the pommel had broken off at some point.
Rabbe
Posts: 1,191 Location: San Francisco, CA
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 8:40 am
I have usually overlooked the spears on the production market, but looking at the examples here I want to get me one of these with the long spear heads. Very elegant and pleasing lines. They also seem to be able to cut , not just trust. Did you notice how sharp the edges were?
Alexi
Posts: 106 Location: Peru
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 8:58 am
The original sharpness of the edges is quite hard to tell on most of the spearheads thanks to corrosion, but the ones in better condition certainly seem sharp enough to cut with some efficiency, although they still appear to have been mostly designed with the thrust in mind.
Rabbe
Attachment: 84.11 KB
Edit: Here's one more picture - another Viking Age sword, apparently bent intentionally before being buried with its owner. [ Download ]
Posts: 2,608
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 9:51 am
I'm curious is the castle set up as a museum? Where did the pieces come from? I wouldn't expect that they are from the castle armoury since they are in such decayed condition... Were they finds from elsewhere brought there for display purposes?
Posts: 106 Location: Peru
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 10:59 am
Russ Ellis wrote: |
I'm curious is the castle set up as a museum? |
Not really; there is an exhibition spread over several of the castle rooms, but I'd hardly call it a museum.
Quote: |
Where did the pieces come from? |
I'm working purely from memory here so I can't give anything specific, but some of them have been found in graves around the county, others in a lake next to the castle, and so on, while some have apparently been preserved in the castle. There is a brief introduction to the castle's history here: http://www.nba.fi/en/hamecastle_history
Rabbe
Posts: 2,608
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 12:34 pm
Very cool, that they are all local artifacts!
Posts: 1,191 Location: Kingston, Washington
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:39 pm
NICE wheellock pistols! High quality-looking locks, probably 30 Years War manufacture. Very nice.
Thanks for posting those, and the other interesting weapons as well. Any good armour pictures?
Gordon
Posts: 106 Location: Peru
Fri 08 Oct, 2004 10:51 pm
Gordon Frye wrote: |
Any good armour pictures? |
Nope, sorry. There were two 3/4 suits there, but I was told to stop photographing before I got to take pictures of them.
Rabbe
Posts: 17 Location: Turku, Finland
Sun 10 Oct, 2004 11:02 am
Those wide Pedersens M-type spears in the middle are BIG spears. nr. 4 (KM 2005:2) for example is 525mm (over 20 inches) long and weighs 485 grams(~ 1 pound). I'm not sure about cutting, but they're certainly not for throwing :)
If someones really interested in the M-type, I have a great book by Kristina Creutz that I can recommend. She's been kind enough to measure, study and publish 335 M-types in her doctoral thesis "Tension and tradition, a study of Late Iron Age spearheads around the Baltic Sea" ISBN: 91-7265-635-2
The silver decorations on the G-types aren't actually inlayed (As in wire in to an engraved line) . I'm not sure what the term is in english (finnish: tauseeraus) for tapping silverwire on to a napped steel surface. It's very typical for finnish late iron age weapons. I've been experimenting with it on an M-type axe I made and it isn't easy. :(
Posts: 1,191 Location: San Francisco, CA
Sun 10 Oct, 2004 11:55 am
Petri Peltola wrote: |
Those wide Pedersens M-type spears in the middle are BIG spears. nr. 4 (KM 2005:2) for example is 525mm (over 20 inches) long and weighs 485 grams(~ 1 pound). I'm not sure about cutting, but they're certainly not for throwing :)
If someones really interested in the M-type, I have a great book by Kristina Creutz that I can recommend. She's been kind enough to measure, study and publish 335 M-types in her doctoral thesis "Tension and tradition, a study of Late Iron Age spearheads around the Baltic Sea" ISBN: 91-7265-635-2
The silver decorations on the G-types aren't actually inlayed (As in wire in to an engraved line) . I'm not sure what the term is in english (finnish: tauseeraus) for tapping silverwire on to a napped steel surface. It's very typical for finnish late iron age weapons. I've been experimenting with it on an M-type axe I made and it isn't easy. :( |
Hi Petri,
Do you know when these Petersen type-M were in use? The reason I made the comment about the cutting is that they look almost like an Oakeshott XV sword on a pole. Even though it is a designated trusting weapon, its edges are still usable. How long would have been the hafts on these?
Thanks,
Alexi
Posts: 17 Location: Turku, Finland
Sun 10 Oct, 2004 1:18 pm
Alexi Goranov wrote: |
Hi Petri,
Do you know when these Petersen type-M were in use? The reason I made the comment about the cutting is that they look almost like an Oakeshott XV sword on a pole. Even though it is a designated trusting weapon, its edges are still usable. How long would have been the hafts on these?
Thanks,
Alexi |
It's usually dated at the end of the Viking age - 11th century. Used at least in areas that are now Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Baltic Countries.
Not all of the M-types are as big as these. Some are half the length. But typically it's long, wide and has a long socket. Socket is longer than in type-G and blade wider than in type-K - At least these features would fit a cutting-use-theory. I'm very sceptical about it though :)
I don't know about the length of the hafts. Don't think any have survived. The spearheads position in the graves might give us a hint, but I don't have any data on that.
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