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Robert Muse
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 Posted: Sun 07 Jul, 2013 3:39 pm Post subject: Unusual Anglo Saxon Spear head |
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Talerwin Forge in Australia has a very unique spear head on their website. They say that the consensus is still out as to if it is a tool or weapon. Has anyone any knowledge of this? It doesn't appear in any of my books. Of course it is impossible to contact Talerwin Forge as I have been trying to ask them to make a copy for me for over three years with no reply.
Just wondering if there has been any progress made on its research as to what it is for sure.
Regards
Robert
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Matthew Bunker
Location: Somerset UK Joined: 02 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Sun 07 Jul, 2013 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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Not like any Anglo Saxon spearhead I've seen.
I wonder if they've seen a picture of a billhook or other agricultural implement and based it on that?
"If a Greek can do it, two Englishman certainly can !"
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Mark Griffin
Location: The Welsh Marches, in the hills above Newtown, Powys. Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 802
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| Posted: Mon 08 Jul, 2013 1:12 am Post subject: |
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That's obviously a pic of the repro, any pics of the original? Looks like a large butter knife to me....and I'd be suspicious of anything without a point on it anywhere . Most bills and scythes that do get used for military purposes end up with a fluke of spike being added.
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Daniel Wallace
Location: Pennsylvania USA Joined: 07 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Mon 08 Jul, 2013 8:54 am Post subject: |
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there are some interesting Saxon spear heads out there, during the migration era i believe some of their styles included broad fullered spear heads which look out of the ordinary.
like Matthew states, i look at it and think of a bill hook.
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Robert Muse
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| Posted: Mon 08 Jul, 2013 9:17 am Post subject: Spear head |
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Hi, thanks for the comments. I don't have any photos of the original, that is in part what I am searching for. The reproduction seems to have been made as a "blunt" so that may not have been the exact contour. I agree that it does look for like a large pole mounted cutting tool, that my grandfather had when I was a mere youth!
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Matthew Bunker
Location: Somerset UK Joined: 02 Apr 2009
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Tue 16 Jul, 2013 6:15 am Post subject: |
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I think I might have found the source; the Buckland Anglo Saxon cemetery near Dover, Kent.
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"If a Greek can do it, two Englishman certainly can !"
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Robert Muse
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| Posted: Tue 16 Jul, 2013 8:39 am Post subject: Spear |
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That's amazing Matthew. Well if anyone could find it......
That surely must be it. So the original discoverers did take it to be a weapon.
Anyway thanks for solving my puzzle.
Robert
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Robert Muse
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| Posted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 3:23 pm Post subject: New Spear head From Buckland, Dover |
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A few weeks ago I was trying to find information on a very unique spear head. Matthew Bunker was nice enough to do some searching and came up with a drawing from the Anglo Saxon Cemetery at Buckland.
Well, I had come across a newer smith in Slovakia by the name of Peter Szabo http://szaboweaponsmith.wix.com/szabo
I asked him to make a copy of this strange single edged spear head. I requested it to made as a lower status weapon. It is all hammer raised. with the tool marks left in. Note that the two sides do not converge at the same angle as on the original. Of course he can do better finishes as I have had him do in my next two pieces.
Completion time was less than a week, even on the better finished piece. I was very happy with his work and in dealing with him.
This has been a great opportunity to add some really unusual Anglo Saxon spear heads to my collection at a good value.
Regards
Robert
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Mart Shearer
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| Posted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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Can someone enlighten me why they would make a segmented spear shaft of maple and ash? If the shaft was broken, why not replace the whole thing, or was there some benefit to making it in two pieces of two types of wood?
ferrum ferro acuitur et homo exacuit faciem amici sui
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Kai Lawson
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| Posted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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Is there any evidence that the spearhead was warped or damaged to the condition of the drawing; or has initial analysis or handling concluded that it was likely forged that way?
"And they crossed swords."
--William Goldman, alias S. Morgenstern
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Robert Muse
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| Posted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 9:59 pm Post subject: Spear |
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Anything is possible, but it is described as single edged by the archeologists.
Robert
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Henrik Zoltan Toth
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| Posted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 4:46 am Post subject: |
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I think the replika in the first post looks like a cheese knife, but the second one could be as effective like a simmetric one.
I saw a large curved one (ottoman) in a Museum in Eger, Hungary.
I've never tried to make such a piece, but it looks interesting. I like the normal ones  I know, they aren't of high quality, but I like them 
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Bob Haynes
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| Posted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm, single edged? Oh ho, maybe just maybe we have ourselves one of the 'hewing-spears' mentioned in Viking Age sagas.
I know its Anglo-Saxon, but am I in the ballpark, wasn't those cultures Viking Age, at least just before it?
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Corey Skriletz
Location: United States Joined: 27 May 2011
Posts: 118
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| Posted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: New Spear head From Buckland, Dover |
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| Robert Muse wrote: | A few weeks ago I was trying to find information on a very unique spear head. Matthew Bunker was nice enough to do some searching and came up with a drawing from the Anglo Saxon Cemetery at Buckland.
Well, I had come across a newer smith in Slovakia by the name of Peter Szabo http://szaboweaponsmith.wix.com/szabo
I asked him to make a copy of this strange single edged spear head. I requested it to made as a lower status weapon. It is all hammer raised. with the tool marks left in. Note that the two sides do not converge at the same angle as on the original. Of course he can do better finishes as I have had him do in my next two pieces.
Completion time was less than a week, even on the better finished piece. I was very happy with his work and in dealing with him.
This has been a great opportunity to add some really unusual Anglo Saxon spear heads to my collection at a good value.
Regards
Robert |
That's very impressive Robert. Can I ask how much it cost?
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Tyler Jordan
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| Posted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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Bears a striking resemblance to a basic clip-point bowie knife blade, doesn't it?
Something like that would end up decent for cutting or stabbing, and even be a useful tool off the pole.
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Matthew Bunker
Location: Somerset UK Joined: 02 Apr 2009
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Bob Haynes wrote: |
I know its Anglo-Saxon, but am I in the ballpark, wasn't those cultures Viking Age, at least just before it? |
Although the early Anglo saxon period that this weapon comes from (6th/7th century) precedes the 'Viking Age' by only a couple of centuries, the sagas themselves where we first finds terms like 'höggspjót' and 'atgeir' come from the 13th century so that would be a bit like trying to relate terms used today to something used during the 100 Years War.
The two different woods in the grave is odd, very odd. There's something strange going on there. Evidence from other burials shows that some shafts were deliberately broken (perhaps ritually 'killed'). Perhaps in this case the spear shaft was already broken at the time of deposition and the shaft that was buried with it was not the one from the weapon.
"If a Greek can do it, two Englishman certainly can !"
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This is a standard topic