I am taking a short vacation to the city of Chicago, and I stoped by the Field Museum to see what the Vikings exibit they had there. The ship outside tge exibit was just plain cool, and was a great focal point for the exibit. Upon paying the $11 dollars, I found myself in a dim lit, white walled room full of glass boxes. The first thing I noticed was that the items had little description, to the point where two very different axes, one for wood splitting and such, and a second a fighting axe, both labeled only "axe". The other boxes were more informational, viking combs, eating knives, and other little daily items. But every other item seemed to be labeled as "copy", it made me a little irritated that they had so little origional items. Now to the swords. They had a few nice swords, in good levels of preservation, including a bent burial swird. The ULFBERHT sword on displsy was even more disappointing, according to the plaque next to the sword showed the inscription was ULFBERHT+, making this sword not an origional, its a viking age fake. Seriously? I guess they imagined that no one would notice or care. The rivits from the viking longship were interesting, they hung them in the shape of the ship they belonged to. The last thing that made me a little irritated was the station where you could actually pick up a replica sword. I eagerly waited behind a group of childern wo grab the handle. Sigh. The thing had to weigh 5 pounds, and had a POB that had to be a foot or two down the blade. I am in no way a sword expert, I'm little more than an enthusiast, but that did not feel like a sword, I can hardly imagine taking more than 10 swings before my arm would become tired. I did notice a KG engraving just above the hilt. Overall, I came back a little disappointed at the exibit. Thanks for reading my short rave on the Viking exibit.

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I saw it in Victoria. As you point out, it has its flaws. But, I thought it was a good, overall exhibit about Vikings - probably worth seeing, if you have a chance. It felt "accessible" to me.

I saw another Vikings exhibit when I visited the British Museum last year. I actually liked the exhibit you just saw slightly better - however, that may have been because the British Museum exhibit was mobbed with people.

I don't mind seeing copies if they are exactly the same as the originals. Of course it is impossible to tell unless you see the original to make a comparison. My favourite exhibits are the ones where they display the original item in its unrestored state and right next to it they have a reconstruction of what it might have looked like at the time when it was being used.

Ulfberht swords with +VLFBERHT+ inlay were first Ulfberhts that appeared in history. Some of the later +VLFBERH+T ones were supposedly of better quality, maybe made of imported crucible steel, but that doesn't mean they are the original Ulfberhts, in fact, we have clear evidence they were not the first Ulfberhts to appear. I would be happier seeing one of the older, +VLFBERHT+ than newer +VLFBERH+T ones.