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Ben Dawson
Industry Professional
Location: New Glarus, WI Joined: 18 Mar 2009
Posts: 14
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 Posted: Mon 11 May, 2009 7:41 pm Post subject: Viking swords in Estonia |
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Hello Everybody, I was wondering if anybody could point me in right direction. I'm looking for information (hopefully photos) on Viking swords found in Estonia. Thanks in advance!! Ben
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Artis Aboltins
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| Posted: Mon 11 May, 2009 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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Well, you will hit some problems there - it might be a bit hard to distinguish between specifically "viking" swords and swords made by the local smiths. One, rather prevalent, theory is that in the Eastern Baltic territory (modern day Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) local smiths quite often used imported blades which were fitted with hilts made in local traditions and also used imported swords + made some local varieties. In Estonia you can find some very interesting swords in several museums - I would recommend State History Museum in Tallin and Kuresaare Bishopal Castle Museum in Kuresaare, Saaremaa island. It is possible that I will have a chance to visit at least the Kuresaare one in near future, if so, I will take some pictures.
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Hendrik Kivirand
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| Posted: Tue 12 May, 2009 2:32 am Post subject: |
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There is a rather good source for info on viking era swords in Estonia, that is the dissertation by archaeologist called Mati Mandel. Problem is, that the work is mainly in estonian and russian (not a problem for me, but could prove one for you...).
In short, two-edged swords did not differ that much from scandinavian examples, blades were mostly import, with locally fitted fittings (there are VERY nice examples of silver and gold gilded ones).
Single-edged variety differs in shape from scandinavia quite a bit (they're usually called fighting knives, even if their length implies more sword-like action), there are some that resemble a thinner falcata with forward-swept blade and so on, quite interesting material. Some pics are at http://mimic.planet.ee/sword/
Best regards,
Hendrik Kivirand
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Ben Dawson
Industry Professional
Location: New Glarus, WI Joined: 18 Mar 2009
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Wed 13 May, 2009 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you both for the input, here is a photo of the sword in question (its a reporduction of course) There is a hilt in one of the photos form the link that Hendrik Kivirand posted that I think might be what this piece was based on. A great help!! Thanks agin. Ben
 Attachment: 108.42 KB
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Hendrik Kivirand
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| Posted: Thu 14 May, 2009 3:42 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I'm familiar with the find according to which this repro is made, It's from Saaremaa island that differed from most Estonia somewhat. If I recall correctly, the find is from 1930-something and thus there's little context to it, for archaeological methods were less than they are now, but I can look up the details, if it's important 
Best regards,
Hendrik
PS: And I do know the guy who made this repro 
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This is a standard topic