Hello All,

I'm pretty sure that I've never seen a bad review of an A&A sword. To my shame, I have to admit that I don't have any swords in my collection from A&A. At first this wasn't a problem at first, but as my weapon collection begins to expand I feel like I should really get one of their swords. I have my eye on a few, but I want to get your thoughts without disclosing which ones I am considering.

So what is your favorite sword by Arms and Armor? Why? How does it handle? What pieces of theirs have you handled and how do they compare to your favorite?

Thanks much.

Obviously, the last one they made up as a custom job for me!!! :D

I really love my A&A Dürer. It is one of the best handling swords I have ever had the pleasure of handling.

I have owned the Black Prince, the Henry V, and the Oakeshott swords. Of those, my favorite was the Oakeshott. It handled like a dream and the wire grip was surprisingly comfortable. The blade was one of the sharpest I've owned. The others were nice but not as nice as that one.

I have the 12th Century Sword, Schloss Erbach Arming Sword and Durer Bastard Sword. Of those my favorite is the 12th Century. Feels great in hand and is the better looking to me.

I've owned their German Rapier, the Gustav Vasa Rapier, Writhen Rapier, Saxon Military Sword, German Branch Sword, and the Irish Sword, and out of those, it's a tie between the German Rapier and the Irish Sword (they're too different to compete equally). I love the German Rapier, it's so beautiful and handles like a dream. The Irish Sword is one of my best cutters, and I think it's still one of the best, if not the best Irish style single-handers made today.

Town Guard! It's a rare example of a very interesting type and it's impressive in every detail. I've seen countless examples in photos and two up-close in museums and the A&A does not suffer, visually, in any comparison.

I have several of their rapiers. Of them my favorites for different reasons are as follows:
The Gustav Vasa is my favorite as a good all around cut& thrust sword.
The Elizabethan Rapier is good if you like late 16th century thrusting swords.
The Dresden is a good sample of a 16th century cutting sword, although it takes some getting used to.

I have surprisingly few A&A swords but make up for it in having a good number of their polearms or Axes/Mace/War-hammer or daggers.

But the two A&A swords I do have I like very much and are well made and good handling and looking.

I have the Black Prince and the huge 15th Century English Twohander and it would be hard for me to call one a favorite above the other as they are both very good and very different types of swords filling different tactical needs.

If forced to name one of the two, maybe , the Black Prince would get the " edge " by being more general purpose and the real much bigger English Twohander is more a battlefield sword.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

William,

I am considering the 12th century sword because I just love those nearly parallel edges. However, I already have the Albion Count which is also a XIIIa. Doesn't anyone know how they compare?

Sean,

I really like the Town Guard sword. I noticed it a long time ago in a book that I have titled "A Visual History of Arms and Armor" and even then it caught my eye. Can you tell me more about how it handles?

All,

Does anyone have anything to say about the Henry V sword? One of those that I'm considering is the hollow ground version (since the original was hollow ground) but I don't ever hear much about it.

Favorite is the custom flamberge styled smallsword they did for me. its on their website.

Simply amazing.

Its hard to say since about 8 items I have received from them are all equally nice. I'm hoping that my upcoming Flamberge landschneckt zweihänder is going to be a real statement, heirloom, extremely detailed piece. Its been in the works for about 4 years now considering its magnitude.

Chris,

Since you have 8 pieces, can you shed some light on each of them? Doing so will not only help me in my decision, but I think that it will help others that might investigate here in the future about this same topic. Might help A&A too. =)

Please limit to non-custom items.

Thanks

Back a decade or so ago, it was the Henry V, the Shifford and the Black Prince were all amongst the lower price brackets and definitely on my short list. It was a Black Prince with bronze fittings that came for a holiday season just like this one. A few months before that I had found a GBS on the secondary market, so when I ordered the BP, I got the leather scabbards for both. Another year went by and I found an EIII with Urbino fittings for sale and despite trading it away, buying it back and then selling it again, it is still a pretty neat sword.

When it had been in the Urbino mounts, the hilt was a bit shorter than the EIII as usually seen. A real handful of a single hand sword and not really a hand and half grip. The current owner had redone it a couple of years ago and it is now more the heft of the regular EIII but still with the Urbino mounts. These broad XVIII blades from the EIII are a very impressive cutter.

I am one that also likes the Black Prince a great deal and my GBS has remained as a nice morning sretch type pf sword but I have been less physically active the past few years. With these two, these are probably iconic of A&A and popular but the company has so, so much more to offer. It may well be that now my taste for early American stuff has been settled, A&A will be at the head of my list. Indeed, there are several that were on the list when I jumped ship from reproductions. Heck, I am even eying the stripped EIII at KOA or even a Friedrich spear instead of a Hanwei yari in the next year.

Like so many electives, I would narrow down my list of preferences and go with the one that speaks the loudest to you. A custom from those guys certainly worth considering as well.

The Urbino Frankensword below. If and when Todd decides he wants to sell it again, I will probably do so but he has come to favor it over his Albion purchases. Also shown, the remaining boys together for sizing.

Cheers

GC

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