Sword of Cangrande Della Scala
Here are a couple of pictures of The sword that was buried with Cangrande Della Scala, the Ruler of Verona, Italy, in the early 1300's. This piece is held in the Castelvecchio museum in Verona, and is quite beautiful, although I would like to see it out of the scabbard.


https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117576494259446410010/albums/5948331931147966481/5948331937165175026?pid=5948331937165175026&oid=117576494259446410010

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117576494259446410010/albums/5948331931147966481/5948331936243494066?pid=5948331936243494066&oid=117576494259446410010

I went ahead and also posted some other images from the museum, including an assortment of weapons, although some of the images were blurry as I was in a race with my phone to take some photos before my battery expired.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117576494259446410010/albums/5948331931147966481/5948331938257001026?pid=5948331938257001026&oid=117576494259446410010


Last edited by Moses Jones on Wed 20 Nov, 2013 6:03 am; edited 7 times in total
Wow! That is beautiful!

Thank you for sharing!
Isn't the scabbard on this sword velvet over wood?
Thank you Jonathan, I used the incorrect term, I should have said scabbard. I corrected the mistake in the post, and I do believe it is velvet covering the wood, although there may have been some leather there at some point as well.
Moses Jones wrote:
I do believe it is velvet covering the wood.


Makes me wonder why there aren't more scabbard makers using velvet in their reproductions (or at least giving the option of velvet). Most modern examples seem to be just leather on wood, but there are several examples of velvet and linen coverings on scabbards in period.
Velvet-on-wood is one of the standard types of scabbards on Indian wallhanger tulwars and cavalry sabres. The kind with etched floral patterns and a huge etched "Made in India".

One can get velvet scabbards with better offerings, too. I have a Persian-style sword from India which has a velvet covered scabbard. Something ate holes in it, so it now has patches of naked wood. (Probably mice.)
Thank you for posting the other photos from your visit to CastelVecchio. That building is one of my favorite works of modern architecture. I travelled there to see Carlo Scarpa's work, but was pleasantly surprised to find arms and armour on display.

-Adair
Jonathan Blair wrote:


Makes me wonder why there aren't more scabbard makers using velvet in their reproductions (or at least giving the option of velvet). Most modern examples seem to be just leather on wood, but there are several examples of velvet and linen coverings on scabbards in period.


I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I'll pretty much use whatever covering the customer specifies if they are willing to foot the bill for it. I've used ostrich leather, sharkskin (pain in the behind to cut) and a goat hide (nasty to cut because it gets hair everywhere). At the moment I've got a a customer that wants python skin and sent me the skin. If someone wants velvet I'll be happy to do velvet. In fact I've been wanting to use cloth for several years now but the customer invariably wants leather.

I suspect that most other scabbard makers would probably do the same?

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