He's Baaaack... -- myArmoury.com

Howard Waddell · Industry Professional

Conan the Barbarian Comes Back To Albion

New Glarus, Wisconsin - The Atlantean Sword, The Master’s Sword and other high-end collectible favorites from 1982’s “Conan the Barbarian” will be available again to eager fans, after a hiatus of several years. Albion Swords Ltd and Paradox Entertainment announced today that they have entered into a new license contract for those famous swords, as well as unique new items from the upcoming film, also called “Conan the Barbarian”.

“We are thrilled to be part of the Conan team again,” said Amy Christensen-Waddell, President and CEO of Albion Swords Ltd, LLC. “Conan is a very exciting and growing franchise, and we look forward to playing our small part in the Conan saga once again.”

“It is with pleasure we welcome Albion Swords back as a licensee, especially with the new movie in the making, from which they can bring new collectibles to their connoisseur customer base,” said Fredrik Malmberg, President and CEO of Paradox Entertainment Inc.“

The Atlantean Sword is arguably the most recognizable weapon in film history. Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of the film and former Governor of California, bought dozens of the recreated swords from Albion under the previous contract.

From 2001 to 2007, Albion Swords Ltd, LLC produced the swords from the first Conan film under a sublicense from Paradox Entertainment. Jody Samson, legendary artist, knife and sword maker, joined the team in 2001, moving his personal shop from Burbank, California, to New Glarus, Wisconsin. Jody made the original swords for the 1982 film and taught the artisans at Albion the ins and outs of recreating these landmark weapons. Jody passed away in 2008, but his legacy lives on at the small swordmaking company in Wisconsin.

The new Conan the Barbarian film is slated for an August 19, 2011, release and features Jason Momoa as Conan. Also featuring are Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, Rachel Nichols and Rose McGowan.

About Albion Swords Ltd, LLC
Albion is the leading manufacturer of historically accurate and functional Medieval and Fantasy swords, catering to discriminating collectors and reenactors worldwide through its websites: www.albion-swords.com and http://www.filmswords.com Albion is based in New Glarus, Wisconsin, and has a European distributor, Albion Europe (http://www.albion-europe.com), based in Sweden. The Conan swords will be available through the Filmswords and Albion Europe sites.

About Paradox Entertainment Inc.
PEI and its subsidiaries own, develop and license mainly character-based properties. The companies control the rights to stories and characters created by pulp author Robert E. Howard, including Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn and Solomon Kane. Industries exploiting the company property portfolio include film/TV, publishing, comics, videogame, Internet/mobile/wireless, toys, apparel, and more. PEI is based in Beverly Hills, California and is owned by Paradox Entertainment AB, a Swedish public company traded on the NASDAQ OMX-run First North Premier list (PDXE, SE0000598054). For more information, go to http://www.paradoxent.com.

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Brian K. · Industry Professional

This is exciting news, as I know a lot of people who have contacted me about where they can acquire a Conan sword from. I'm really glad a new contract was worked out, and Albion can once again offer these magnificent swords from cinematic history.

Yesssss!

Jonathan Blair · Posted: Tue 18 Jan, 2011 8:27 am Post subject:

As exciting as this news is, I can only be sad as I will never be able to afford one.

Tim Lison · Posted: Tue 18 Jan, 2011 8:31 am Post subject:

I will likely never buy a Conan sword from Albion but it is nice to know that they are being made again. I'm sure many of us here were hooked by the opening scene of the Father's sword being forged. Congratulations to Albion and to those of you who will buy one of these masterpieces! Hey, who knows, I could win the lottery...

Jean Thibodeau · Posted: Tue 18 Jan, 2011 10:04 am Post subject:

Good news to hear about as I'm sure it should be good for business and many still want a " Conan " sword.

I assume from what was said that there may be some new swords or other things ( daggers, axes ? ) from the new movie that may be a little less expensive than the " classic " original films swords designed by Jody Samson( Still sad about his passing ).

High quality reproductions of the new film sword(s), assuming that there might be a new " Conan " sword designed for this film or if the sword used by Conan is the same as in the original films there may be other swords used by the other characters that will be interesting.

I don't know if any of these are already designed but it would be good if Albion and/or Peter Johnsson where consulted about the designs to make them good practical designs even if with strong fantasy elements.

Danny Grigg · Posted: Wed 19 Jan, 2011 2:25 am Post subject:

Are these some of the new swords or are they the old Albion models?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/albioneurope/

Albion Europe has added a bunch of high quality photos of 3 Conan swords.

There's a few on page 2 that I don't recognise. Are they part of the Conan Brand?

Danny.

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Wed 19 Jan, 2011 5:30 pm Post subject:

This is good to hear. I've always wanted a Fathers Sword, and even though that's highly unlikely due to the cost it's nice to know it's available.

Marko Susimetsa · Posted: Thu 20 Jan, 2011 8:04 am Post subject:

David Martin · Posted: Thu 20 Jan, 2011 10:33 am Post subject:

These swords are beautiful (as is everything that Albion does). This said, I would love to see scaled down versions that would be more functional. Swinging an eight pound beast might be fine for Arnold, but it's not for someone like me with less heroic proportions.

If the castings were thinner and the blade slimmed down, ideally to four pounds or less, you could have a really interesting weapon. The end user might feel more like Conan if the sword were something he could actually swing.

For that matter, I'd love to see Albion tackle some of the famous swords in both ancient and modern legend. For example, the sword Gram, used by the hero Sigurd. I'd love to see a functional two-handed Viking style sword.

While I'm wishing, I'd like to win the lottery so I could purchase a number of Albion swords! Wink

Keep up the good work, Albion. You give us all grist for our dream-making millstones.