Hello all,

First let me introduce myself. My name is Josh and I have been working for A&A for almost 5 years now and I finally decided to join you guys. I have primarily worked on blades here at A&A but I do work on the occasional armor order we get.

Now as for my most recent work:

This project started one night over dinner with a very good friend of mine Dominic Sewell. I offered to make him an arming sword seeing as he did not have one. (He does a lot of historical equitation and re-enactment events in England) So we set out on this very lofty project, where we established a few iconic images and themes that we wanted to cover. This is what I came up with after researching and drafting many different ideas.

The hilts on both the rondel and sword are plated with gold. The insets in the sword pommel are cured enamel, and the spacers on the rondel are silver plated. The fittings on the scabbard are brass and the studs on the belt are silver plated as well. The tooling on the scabbards of acanthus leaves are loosely based of some images, and the cascade of images down the sword scabbard are based from period drawings or paintings.

I have more detailed shots that I will post at a later date. I am presenting this set to him at the Tournament of the Phoenix this coming weekend in San Diego.

Oh i forgot to mention that the rondel is a bonus gift because you can't just have a sword...

Josh

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More pics

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There is a lot of wonderful detail going on in this set Josh! BRAVO!

The scabbard and sheath are especially beautiful and show an innovative combination of media and color.

What material is the grip on the sword? It looks like bone.

Do you feel the gold plating in the hilts is of sufficient thickness to stand up to consistent use or do you expect it to wear off over time?

Again this is a beautiful set up! Thanks for sharing.

Well Josh, that is a way to introduce yourself.

Fabulous.

Fantastic detailing and a really sumptuous combination.

Great work

Tod

Outstanding work. Really like all the small details.

I saw this sword in progress when I was at A&A. The carving on the scabbard is great and I hope Josh posts some pics that show it more clearly. There is detail around the wheel pommel and down the grip fillets that's very cool as well.

I'm glad to see this piece finished. It's really nice.

Ok what museum did you steal that from? :D

That looks (not enough superlatives in the English language to go here)!!


How beautiful can a set get? Wonderful work...WOW...

I think this takes the term "museum quality reproduction" to a whole new level. This is beyond impressive.

I second the suggestion to post more pics of the scabbard detailing (and the sword hilt as well :) ) I love the dear head near the top of the scabbard, and is that two knights on horseback battling each other just below it? I look forward to seeing more pics...

The entire group is really impressive. The hilts on the sword and dagger are really outstanding. Almost brings a tear to my eye. :)

Mmmmmm, gaudy! Love it.

I was looking at the buckles and noticed the recurrent crescent theme, reminding me of of a jousting band called "the order of the crescent" (which counts no less than T Capwell from the Wallace among his members). Just checked their website and it now makes perfect sense :)

Great work on a very posh package!

Cheers,

J

That is jaw-droppingly amazing. Beautiful work, Josh!

Josh

OK, you know I've been a fan of your work, since those first pieces Theresa brought home, but...damn. This upped the ante! I am not sure which part I like best, although the detail and the rondel vs the simplicity of the arming sword is a nice contrast.

So I will just say...damn. Well done!

"simplicity" being relative to form, not detail, of course!

*Drool*
Beautiful, although I have to admit I find the Rondel scabbard a little strange.
The other thing I don't really like is the belt, the ornamentation is great but it's a bit too thin for my taste.

Josh-

This is very impressive work! I've been talking with Craig Johnson over the years and your name keeps popping up in those talks. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your work with us directly. I hope you continue to do so.

Job Overbeek wrote:

Beautiful, although I have to admit I find the Rondel scabbard a little strange.

It is consistent with many depicted in portraiture.

Quote:

The other thing I don't really like is the belt, the ornamentation is great but it's a bit too thin for my taste.

Personal preferences aside, I wanted to mention that wide belts are rarely seen in historical references. The thin/narrow belt on this piece is typical.

Some of the work coming out recently is just staggering. These pieces are amazing. The bar is really being set higher and higher. Between this and the Albion Prince piece by Tod, it just looks like these scabbards are literally leaping off the pages of history. Gentlemen, your work is outstanding, please keep them coming!

Holy smokes! That about the nicest piece I've seen in a long time. Seeing pieces like this make me want to go with some pieces from this period. Kudos, sir, kudos!

Genius! :cool:

Josh (in the air over the Rockies I suspect at the moment) asked me to post some more pics. He really did a great job on these pieces and put in an insane amount of hours :eek:

I have some closeups of the sword hilt I will try to get up later this evening. The material on the hilts is bone.

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Back of scabbard

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Mid scabbard

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Rondel scabbard tip

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Rondel hilt in scabbard