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R. Laine




Location: Peru
Joined: 28 Oct 2003

Posts: 106

PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:04 am    Post subject: Several antiques from the local castle (~1 mb of pictures)         Reply with quote

A couple of pictures from my trip (might be a tad cruel on slower connections, sorry):


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spearheads1.jpg
Spears.

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Four Viking Age swords. [ Download ]

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Notice the pattern-welding... [ Download ]

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... and the bronze plating on the hilt. This is propably my favourite of all the Viking Age swords I've ever seen; the picture doesn't quite do it justice. [ Download ]

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... and a few more spears. [ Download ]

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The first ones again. [ Download ]

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Note the silver inlays. [ Download ]

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A gorgeous pair of pistols. Firearms aren't usually my thing, but I'm really starting to like these... [ Download ]


Last edited by R. Laine on Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:26 am; edited 2 times in total
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R. Laine




Location: Peru
Joined: 28 Oct 2003

Posts: 106

PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:06 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Ohh, the pictures didn't all show up at the same time... How clever.

A few more:



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shellguard.jpg
A rather odd piece; a very short tang and apparently no pommel. Also, it seems the shell-guard has been bent at some point, or was made that way to protect the finger if the user wanted to wrap it around the ricasso... In any case, quite an unusual weapon

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swedish.jpg
This sword looks quite mundane in the picture, but in reality is rather impressive. There are several small nicks on both edges that unfortunately don't show up in the picture... Oh well.

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At this point, I was told that photographing is not allowed in the castle... *g* I was told earlier that taking pictures was OK, though. [ Download ]
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Risto Rautiainen




Location: Kontiolahti, Finland
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PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 7:16 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hello, are these from Hämeenlinna-castle? I haven't been there my self and have wondered if it's worthwhile. Now it seems it is. I was disappointed of Savonlinna's castle because they didn't have any medieval stuff there. Russians had looted all the good stuff Mad

About the pics. If you look at the sword without the pommel, you can see how the natural curve of the knuckle bow gets bent at one point. So my guess is, when the pommel was lost, the knuckle bow was bent towards the end of the tang to prevent the weapon from slipping from hand. But it seems it has had a pommel at one point.
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R. Laine




Location: Peru
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Posts: 106

PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 7:31 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Yep. In addition to these, there are several quite nice polearms and a couple of sabres and rapiers there, but that's pretty much it.

That's a pretty good guess about the missing pommel. Now that I think of it, it'd also explain the shortness of the tang if the pommel had broken off at some point.

Rabbe
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Alexi Goranov
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PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 8:40 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I have usually overlooked the spears on the production market, but looking at the examples here I want to get me one of these with the long spear heads. Very elegant and pleasing lines. They also seem to be able to cut , not just trust. Did you notice how sharp the edges were?

Alexi
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R. Laine




Location: Peru
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PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 8:58 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The original sharpness of the edges is quite hard to tell on most of the spearheads thanks to corrosion, but the ones in better condition certainly seem sharp enough to cut with some efficiency, although they still appear to have been mostly designed with the thrust in mind.

Rabbe



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Edit: Here's one more picture - another Viking Age sword, apparently bent intentionally before being buried with its owner. [ Download ]
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Russ Ellis
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PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 9:51 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I'm curious is the castle set up as a museum? Where did the pieces come from? I wouldn't expect that they are from the castle armoury since they are in such decayed condition... Were they finds from elsewhere brought there for display purposes?
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R. Laine




Location: Peru
Joined: 28 Oct 2003

Posts: 106

PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 10:59 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Russ Ellis wrote:
I'm curious is the castle set up as a museum?


Not really; there is an exhibition spread over several of the castle rooms, but I'd hardly call it a museum.

Quote:
Where did the pieces come from?


I'm working purely from memory here so I can't give anything specific, but some of them have been found in graves around the county, others in a lake next to the castle, and so on, while some have apparently been preserved in the castle. There is a brief introduction to the castle's history here: http://www.nba.fi/en/hamecastle_history

Rabbe
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Russ Ellis
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PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 12:34 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Very cool, that they are all local artifacts!
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Gordon Frye




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PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 6:39 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

NICE wheellock pistols! High quality-looking locks, probably 30 Years War manufacture. Very nice.

Thanks for posting those, and the other interesting weapons as well. Any good armour pictures?

Gordon

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R. Laine




Location: Peru
Joined: 28 Oct 2003

Posts: 106

PostPosted: Fri 08 Oct, 2004 10:51 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Gordon Frye wrote:
Any good armour pictures?


Nope, sorry. There were two 3/4 suits there, but I was told to stop photographing before I got to take pictures of them.

Rabbe
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Petri Peltola




Location: Turku, Finland
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PostPosted: Sun 10 Oct, 2004 11:02 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Those wide Pedersens M-type spears in the middle are BIG spears. nr. 4 (KM 2005:2) for example is 525mm (over 20 inches) long and weighs 485 grams(~ 1 pound). I'm not sure about cutting, but they're certainly not for throwing Happy

If someones really interested in the M-type, I have a great book by Kristina Creutz that I can recommend. She's been kind enough to measure, study and publish 335 M-types in her doctoral thesis "Tension and tradition, a study of Late Iron Age spearheads around the Baltic Sea" ISBN: 91-7265-635-2

The silver decorations on the G-types aren't actually inlayed (As in wire in to an engraved line) . I'm not sure what the term is in english (finnish: tauseeraus) for tapping silverwire on to a napped steel surface. It's very typical for finnish late iron age weapons. I've been experimenting with it on an M-type axe I made and it isn't easy. Sad
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Alexi Goranov
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PostPosted: Sun 10 Oct, 2004 11:55 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Petri Peltola wrote:
Those wide Pedersens M-type spears in the middle are BIG spears. nr. 4 (KM 2005:2) for example is 525mm (over 20 inches) long and weighs 485 grams(~ 1 pound). I'm not sure about cutting, but they're certainly not for throwing Happy

If someones really interested in the M-type, I have a great book by Kristina Creutz that I can recommend. She's been kind enough to measure, study and publish 335 M-types in her doctoral thesis "Tension and tradition, a study of Late Iron Age spearheads around the Baltic Sea" ISBN: 91-7265-635-2

The silver decorations on the G-types aren't actually inlayed (As in wire in to an engraved line) . I'm not sure what the term is in english (finnish: tauseeraus) for tapping silverwire on to a napped steel surface. It's very typical for finnish late iron age weapons. I've been experimenting with it on an M-type axe I made and it isn't easy. Sad


Hi Petri,

Do you know when these Petersen type-M were in use? The reason I made the comment about the cutting is that they look almost like an Oakeshott XV sword on a pole. Even though it is a designated trusting weapon, its edges are still usable. How long would have been the hafts on these?

Thanks,

Alexi
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Petri Peltola




Location: Turku, Finland
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PostPosted: Sun 10 Oct, 2004 1:18 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Alexi Goranov wrote:

Hi Petri,

Do you know when these Petersen type-M were in use? The reason I made the comment about the cutting is that they look almost like an Oakeshott XV sword on a pole. Even though it is a designated trusting weapon, its edges are still usable. How long would have been the hafts on these?

Thanks,

Alexi

It's usually dated at the end of the Viking age - 11th century. Used at least in areas that are now Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Baltic Countries.
Not all of the M-types are as big as these. Some are half the length. But typically it's long, wide and has a long socket. Socket is longer than in type-G and blade wider than in type-K - At least these features would fit a cutting-use-theory. I'm very sceptical about it though Happy

I don't know about the length of the hafts. Don't think any have survived. The spearheads position in the graves might give us a hint, but I don't have any data on that.
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