[Roy K.]

I probably don't know what I am talking about, but, it looks like an early (late '60s) Kirby piece to me, particularly the grip. See if there is an anvil stamped on it somewhere.

[Greg Brown]

Carbon 14 dating would only tell me if the wooden grip was older than, say this century. Or even much older. I would never suggest that the current grip was 600 years old! But I have plenty of wooden parts of things 200 and 300 years old. Not all wood disintegrates simply from age. The seller offered to take it back, and all they could say about it's origins was that this was collected from travels in the early 20th century.

I also read in multiple places that falchions were not all thin and light like the Conyers Falchion. Many of them were quite heavy, and made for a devastating two armed swing that could cut through a horse or similar mass. And in spite of the earlier comment about labor being cheaper than iron back then, plenty of battles were waged with blacksmiths feverishly making weapons for an impending invasion or assault. And the reason there are so few is because they WERE made crudely and were considered the cheap arms of their day... something you threw in the river rather than give to your son.

I am by no means even suggesting that this is a medievel made piece or even ancient. But the crudeness and lack of decay is by no means an automatic canceling of genuineness. This has balance, heft, mass, and would slice through both arms of an attacker without slowing down... that is how it seems to my completely amateur brain. Another words, it seems to have been made by someone who knew how to make a weapon, not just a tourist fake.

You expert swordsmen know more than I care to even learn about a weapon's utility in combat. But I must say, I am tempted to find a 6" thick tree somewhere to test this on.

Thanks,
Greg