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Robert Muse




Location: Washington
Joined: 28 Sep 2009
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PostPosted: Sun 07 Jul, 2013 3:39 pm    Post subject: Unusual Anglo Saxon Spear head         Reply with quote

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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PostPosted: Sun 07 Jul, 2013 10:39 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Mon 08 Jul, 2013 1:12 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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

Posts: 580

PostPosted: Mon 08 Jul, 2013 8:54 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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




Location: Washington
Joined: 28 Sep 2009
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PostPosted: Mon 08 Jul, 2013 9:17 am    Post subject: Spear head         Reply with quote

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

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PostPosted: Tue 16 Jul, 2013 6:15 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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




Location: Washington
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PostPosted: Tue 16 Jul, 2013 8:39 am    Post subject: Spear         Reply with quote

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




Location: Washington
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PostPosted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 3:23 pm    Post subject: New Spear head From Buckland, Dover         Reply with quote

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




Location: Jackson, MS, USA
Joined: 18 Aug 2012

Posts: 1,302

PostPosted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 8:09 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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





Joined: 26 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 9:22 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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




Location: Washington
Joined: 28 Sep 2009
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PostPosted: Tue 13 Aug, 2013 9:59 pm    Post subject: Spear         Reply with quote

Anything is possible, but it is described as single edged by the archeologists.

Robert
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Henrik Zoltan Toth




Location: Hungary
Joined: 18 Feb 2007

Posts: 200

PostPosted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 4:46 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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 Big Grin I know, they aren't of high quality, but I like them Happy



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Bob Haynes




Location: Mount Perry, Ohio
Joined: 06 Apr 2008
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PostPosted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 4:49 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 6:54 pm    Post subject: Re: New Spear head From Buckland, Dover         Reply with quote

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





Joined: 15 Mar 2004

Posts: 104

PostPosted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 7:35 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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

PostPosted: Wed 14 Aug, 2013 10:35 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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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