[Ben Sweet]

I'm unable to so far locate my old MRL catalog Issues which means they are boxed up in storage in another State.... I'm looking for a sword and I forget the name, something along the lines of Cortina a two-hander with a darkened hilt I think and would have shown up between Issues 3-8, funny I can barely picture it on the right side of my Issue but just cant grasp it! Can anyone out there who might have these Issues post up a photo of it and the correct name?

[T.F. McCraken]

Well, back then, DelTin was doing their blades.
I would check the DelTin website because MANY of the sword from back then are still available through D-T.

Hope I've helped.
Murphy

[Phil D.]

Was it the Ravenna,,,

[Ben Sweet]

Ravenna if I recall right came out much later, the one I cant remember was out during the late 80's around the time of the curved dual sided Elf sword

[M. Livermore]

Was it the Austrian Masterpiece?

[Ben Sweet]

Nope not the Austrian Masterpiece or at least that was not the name of it...I think in looks it might have been close to that sword...

[Terry Crain]

Hi,

I think the sword you are recalling was called the Cortanta. I see it in catalog 17 page 38. The stats are as follows:

Overall Length: 50"
Blade length 38"
Blade Width: 2"
Weight- 3 lbs. 14 oz.

The Description from the catalog is as follows:

Many tales are told of King Charlemagne and his host of heroes. The "Song of Roland" chronicles another legendary warrior in the Charlemagne cycle. But somehow overlooked has been one who was their match in strength, courage and chivalrous spirit--Ogier the Dane. His sword's name was Cortanta and we have chosen that name for this truly beautiful sword. The 39" long blade is made of tough carbon steel, similar to 1095, by Windlass Steelcrafts in India. Having a central fuller, this 1 3/4 " wide blade tapers to a good servicable point. The pommel and guard are special creations from our shop-they're blued steel with decorative rounds of brass. The scorched mahogany handle, beautifully darkened and oiled, provides a comfortable grip. The overall effect is dazzling. Item # 1-775...$295 (6.25 s/h)

Personally, this sword does nothing for me, as it looks ahistorical to the time period they are referring to. Looks kind of fantasy to me and not asthetically appealing to me at all, but to each his own.

The wooden handle looks like it was turned on a lathe and closely resembles a colonial banister spindle with 3 or four rounded sections nearest the crossguard which comprise about 2/3 of the grip length with a smooth straight section tapering as it heads to the odd looking pommel. The smooth straight section looks to be about 1/3 of the grip length.

The blued/blackened pommel looks like it started as a round disk pommel which has had four equally spaced cutouts made to it making it look somewhat like a squat rounded cross or flower with four petals. The flower look is enhanced by a small round brass circle or dot in the center of the pommel. The blued/blackened cross guard is rather unusual looking as well. It is comprised of two curved downward sloping arms each with 3 equally spaced small brass dots. What makes it so odd looking is the small semi-circular piece attached the middle of the crossguard which is centered over the blade. This projection is also blued with three small brass dots and resembles a rainflap but with a hole in the middle so you can see the base of the blade peeking under it where the downward sloping crossguard meets the semi-circular U shaped projection. Very strange looking sword overall.

Not sure why they have a discrepancy in the blade width in the narrative and the listed stats. The thin fuller tapers toward the point, is about 3/4 of the length of the blade, with the last unfullered quarter of the blade looking to be a diamond cross-section. There is a little ahistorical drawing of what appears to be a Conan the barbarian looking warrior with horned helmet holding a sword that looks something like this sword while three ravens circle a battlefield. I presume that is supposed to represent Ogier the Dane. The little drawing is about as ahistorical as the sword IMHO.

BTW the curved "Elfin Sword" still appears in this catalog. At this time, they were selling Del Tin products as well as Christopher Poor/Arms and Armor produced items and a good number of Windlass weapons were creeping in. Some, like this one, was assembled in their shop using bare blades- in this case a Windlass blade. Sorry I don't have a scanner to show you this sword, but it sounds like what you are decribing from your recollection. Hope this helps.

Terry

Terry

[Ben Sweet]

Thanks Terry, that's it! Does your catalog have a date on it? I'm curious now to know the year at least of this issue you have where you see it in....

Now to find a way to get a photo either posted or sent if anyone else is able to do so that would be great since Terry was able to locate it and let everyone know what catalog and page number!

I was kinda close on the name after all these years....

[Terry Crain]

Hi Ben,

It 's amazing how close you were to the name of this sword. Pretty impressive memory. I often wished MRL catalogs had dates on them. I have never been able to find any. I also have tried in the past to figure out the date a particular sword or other weapon was offered, but can't do it with much precision.

You may be in luck with trying to figure out this one's approximate age however. As you may recall, early catalogs sometimes featured little intro's by Hank Reinhardt and this one does. Hank is listed as: "Vice President, Atlanta Cutlery (Museum Replicas is a division of Atlanta Cutlery)"

God bless Hank BTW- a great guy very much missed...

Anyway, in his little intro Hank discusses Museum Replicas original mission statement and states "In this, our 7th year of operation, we've expanded upon our original mission to now include shields and helmets, as well as period clothing and accessories."

I looked in catalogs 15 & 16 and don't see this sword. I appears to me that it first appeared in catalog 17, which was issued in MRL's 7th year of operation. Now you just need to know when they first began operations and bingo, you will have a good approximation of the year the sword came out.

If anyone has any info on dates corresponding to MRL catalog #'s, that would be something I would very much like to know.

I do know this catalog has to be at least 17 years old, since it was sent to my prior address and I've been here for the past 17 years, so it was issued on or about 1994 at the latest. --1986 at the earliest (when I first lived at the mailing address on the catalog...

If you can access corporate records regarding MRL's date of incorporation (some states have them available for free online, some don't), perhaps you may further pin down the approximate date using Hank's 7th year of operation clue.

I also note that in Hank's intro, he says: "Be sure to see our Fantasy Section (p.33-39) for some terrific new choices as well." I guess that's why your sword cried out fantasy to me when I saw it again. I only looked for the sword, didn't read the whole catalog.

Interestingly, on the page with the Conan movie inspired sword, which is alongside what looks to me to be a copy of the sword used by Mark Singer in the Beastmaster movie, it says: Barbarian Swords from the Movies- These fantasy creations landed in very popular movies during the 1980's..."

That sort of makes me think this catalog was issued in the 1990's, but that is speculation...

Boy, this sword must have really made an impression on you. .. what spurred this interest after all these years?

Guess you can tell I am cooped up here outside Phila. due to the latest snow storm hitting the East coast. Your little mystery gave me a nice little bit of detective work to keep me occupied. As Mr. Torense wrote in his magnus opus in the Shining during his wintery haunted cabin fever days, "all work and no play make Johnny a dull boy". Now were did I put my axe...

[Ben Sweet]

I've been finding out as I get older 41 soon I'm remembering things that even date back to when I was 1-3 years old, my Mom said a couple months ago, "how are you able to even remember that!, that happened when I was married to your dad." and that was 1970-73" , but I have to put my car keys and wallet in the same spot or I will spend lotsa time trying to find them, short term memory is bad, guess its a trade off and sometimes I wish it was the other way around no short term has gotten me in trouble more than a few times and out! good thing that everyone who knows me personally understands...

A few years ago I searched for the Cortanta with no luck.. My 1st MRL catalog I received was Issue #3 and that was I think was somewhere around 1983?...Growing up pretty poor being a Latchkey kid and living off Mac&Cheese and Cup O Noodles I think the Coranta was just untouchable to me, well everything in MRL was...I guess this is sword is my Grail...I'm also not one who cares if it is historical, fantasy or both, ha! and the only fantasy swords I have are the "Big Leaf" and the "Tac Leaf" from Angus Trim and the "Prototype Tactical P-1" from Michael 'Tinker" Pearce, all the rest are historical...

You guys are killing me here with no photos! Even my 5 year old flip phone Sony Z520a takes cruddy photos....

MRL if your here monitoring how about setting up a booklet " MRL Swords Though the Years" would be nice...

[Terry Crain]

Hi Ben, I will ask my II yr old daughter how to take a pic and try to send it to you. PM me with your cell phone #. Maybe you can then post it. That is also beyond my techical skills...

[Christopher Treichel]

Just read through this string... anyone notice the MRL stuff on the Depeeka website... did MRL get sold?