I was at the Philbrook art museum in Tulsa the other day and they had a small collection of swords.
I couldn't take an pictures unfortunately, but one sword caught my eye.
It was a hand and a half sword with darkened pummel and guard. The interesting thing to me about it was that the lower half of the grip had some sort of brass looking studs(like nails) in it. I don't believe i have ever seen anything like this. Was this actually done? how often? Does anyone have some pics. Someday when I have the time i would love to see if the museum would let me document the piece.