[Nathan Robinson]

#20: An Exceptional Viking Sword with Gold and Silver Inlaid Blade and Hilt, early 10th century

With double-edged blade of gradual taper; inlaid on both sides in gold and silver with decorative patterns, one side bearing a gradually tapering geometric-architectural design in five stages and the other bearing a gradually tapering palmette design. The hilt comprising down-curved cross guard, sturdy tang and five-lobed pommel riveted to the upward-curving upper guard; the cross-guard, upper guard and pommel all inlaid in silver with decorative knotwork and tracery and in gold with dots.

Overall length: 94 cm (37"); Blade length: 80.6 cm (31.75")

This rare Viking sword, the hilt of Petersen Type O, has a cross-guard with decorative devices reminiscent of those on one of the three swords that were found in the rich ship burial of about 900 at Hedeby in Denmark when it was subsequently excavated in the 1950s. More of these ‘rabbit ear’ or ‘knotted rope’ characters may be found on three of the ‘Hiltipreht’ group of swords, namely one in the Wallace Collection, London (Inv. No. A456), the Ballinderry sword in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin (Inv. No.1928.382) and the example from Malhus in the Trondheim Museum, Norway (Petersen, Abb.89).

The credentials of this prestigious weapon are further enhanced by the decoration upon the blade. On one side there is a palmette design of inlaid silver with traces of gold that is very similar to that on a fragmented blade from the River Bann in Ireland and illustrated in Bøe. This should be compared with the inlay on a sword from the Waal near Nijmegen (Oakeshott, Records of the Medieval Sword, p.47). On the other side, the inlaid precious metals may well represent a schematic plan view of a building, as is believed to have been intended upon another silver inlaid sword illustrated and described by Ewart Oakeshott (Records of the Medieval Sword, pp.28-29). This is certainly not a ceremonial weapon, as is indicated by the hefty tang, the robust blade and the array of battle nicks along the blade. To the Viking Warrior, his sword represented his very life and was among his most treasured possessions. The nature of this close and powerful partnership between warrior and weapon may best be demonstrated by an extract from an Estonian Viking Epic which asks,

“Who can separate a man from his sword? One is worth nothing without the other.”

Swords with sound reputations in battle and other fine qualities would be handed down from father to son and generation to generation. They could be looked upon as having a unique character and personality of their own and many were deemed to possess even magical qualities. The Norse Sagas record notable numbers of swords that were ancient heirlooms, either extracted from burial-mounds of dead warriors for further use or family weapons literally handed down for generations. Swords committed to the ground, sometimes for more than a century, would have required some degree of protection and may well have received a coating of animal fat before being wrapped in sheepskin, where the naturally occurring lanolin would protect against corrosion.

In Norse literature, especially in the vast body of Skaldic poetry, swords (as well as byrnies, axes and spears) are given striking and evocative names, called Kennings (meaning the name by which they were known, or “kenned”). Kennings such as: ‘Byrnie-Biter’, ‘'Leg-Biter’, ‘Viper’, ‘War Snake’, ‘Keen’, ‘Long and Sharp’, ‘Serpent of Blood’, ‘Odin’s Flame’, ‘Widow Maker’, ‘Ice of Battle’ are recorded. There were many reasons why a sword was named and therefore regarded as special. It could be the presence of a decorated hilt or of inlaid devices upon the blade, the excellent balance of the weapon in the hand or simply the sword's reputation as being sturdy, reliable and effective. The quality of our sword coupled with its fine decoration mean that we can be certain that during its active life it possessed these enhancing features and that it would undoubtedly have been named.

Literature:
From Viking to Crusader, (Exhibition Catalogue, Copenhagen, 1992), entry 171
Oakeshott, R.E. and Peirce, I. G., ‘Hiltipreht! Name or Invocation’, in Park Lane Arms Fair Catalogue, No. 12 (1995), pp. 6-11
Bøe, J., Norse Antiquities in Ireland (Oslo, 1940), pp. 83-85. Davidson, H.R. Ellis, The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England (Woodbridge, Suffolk), 1994
Petersen, J., De Norske Vikingesverd (Oslo, 1919)

Copyright © Peter Finer

[Nathan Robinson]

#21: A Fine Viking Sword with a Hilt Inlaid with Silver and Copper, 10th century

in excavated condition, with broad blade cut with a wide shallow fuller over almost its entire length on each face, robust iron hilt comprising thick cross-piece of tapering rectangular section, the inner and outer faces inlaid with silver rows of triangles top and bottom, formed of very fine close-set lines, framing silver diamonds of contrasting flecked pattern also retaining traces of copper inlay, two-stage pommel formed of a thick elliptical bar inlaid en suite with the cross-piece, and the upper portion of lobated form decorated with close-set vertical lines inlaid in silver and also retaining traces of copper inlay (the inlay incomplete)

Blade length: 85.5 cm (33.7")

A sword of very similar form was found in a lake near Sørborg Castle, Denmark and is now preserved in the Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen. See I. Peirce 2002, pp.106-107. A further sword with pommel of ‘cocked hat’ form and inlaid with silver and copper in a closely related style is preserved in the Universitetets Oldsaksamling, Norway, accession C23127, see I. Peirce, op.cit, plate VII.

Copyright © Sotheby’s

[Kai Lawson]

I wonder about the complete authenticity of both the silver-hilted guy with the horn grip, and the triangular decorated 'Finnish' sword with the Celtic Cross. The blade on the Cross sword looks real enough, but I've never seen inlay so close to the edge on such an early sword in Europe (not that I've seen many inlays). There also seems to be something funky about the horn grip itself, but I can't quite put my finger on it... maybe I'm off base here.

[Tim Lison]

The majority of these look like fakes to me. I'm in the "not an expert" category but something just looks *off* about a lot of these swords.... The inlay on a few looks like it was done by the same person to me as well. I suppose the people at Bonham's and Peter Finer's know more than me, but some of these look rather amatuerish... And to see so many unique examples of viking swords all gathered together for sale at one time...doesn't this ring some alarm bells?

[Nathan Robinson]

[Tim Lison]

[Craig Peters]

How often do you find evidence of reddish rust on known genuine Viking or medieval swords? My natural feeling is to be suspicious. In this set of swords, #16 is a good example of what I am referring to.

One sword that is strongly suspicious to me is the Peter Finer sword #20. The lack of a fuller is highly atypical, and the general appearance of the blade feels off.

Also, would you Nathan, or anyone else, be willing to post a new topic on signs of artificial aging, preferably with high quality colour images? I don't know what to look for and I don't recall a forum thread on the subject.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Nathan Robinson]

[J. Nicolaysen]

So are viking swords, or swords from this era at least, any more or less likely to be fakes than swords from other eras?

I guess that more recent swords might have a better provenance, while older swords are more rare altogether. Perhaps there is a sort of confluence of factors that make these swords "fake-able." Too bad, I think some of these are really quite nice, though I have even less of an eye than the esteemed gentlemen speaking in this thread.

[Bryan Heff]

[Harry Marinakis]

#1 is my favorite
Spectacular thread, Nathan

[Nathan Robinson]

[Nathan Robinson]

[Jeffrey Faulk]

Regarding #8's mysterious holes:

The thoughts that occur to me in no particular order:
--Some form of decorative insert or rivet that has since fallen or corroded out.
--Rivet holes for old-fashioned golden 'sandwich' layers? Like on a Migration Period sword?
--Someone at some museum drilled them to hang the sword up.
--(Vaguely serious, probably unrealistic) some form of religious symbol?
--(Also probably unrealistic) Some way of making the friend-bond where you tie the sword to the scabbard so it cannot be drawn? It strikes me that this would be a fairly secure way of doing so, where you have thongs fixed to the scabbard and then inserted upward through these holes and knotted together. However there has never really been much actual evidence of the fridbond apart from a few sagas, so...

[Don Stanko]

I've seen #16 in person. The color is more of an even, dark brown with no active rust. The proportions and construction seem to be good and the irregular oxidation pattern is difficult to mimic with most accelerated aging techniques.

[Carl W.]

Nathan - Thank you for posting these.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Mark Lewis]

[Nathan Robinson]

Mark, since that 14th century sword is off-topic to this particular topic, I will only comment to say that it was posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago and I've just added your additional information to it. Should you want to discuss this sword or others outside of the Viking Age samples I've put here, go ahead and make a new topic for it. it's a good one.