Sword from Alexandria's Arsenal, Davids Samling, Denmark. -- myArmoury.com

Niels Just Rasmussen

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons..._David.jpg

Christian Ludvig David (1878-1960) was from a Jewish family turned Lutheran Christian (his grandfather). He completed his law studies in 1903 and became very successful especially by defending a banker in 1922 during one of the biggest financial scandals in Danish history [Bankrupcy of Landmandsbanken].
He also was involved in business and sat as a board member on several of Denmark's leading companies and also had holdings in the company "De Forenede Vagtselskaber" (United Security Companies). With David as chairman it bought up other security companies in Norway and Sweden and started adding cleaning companies (which was his idea).
Eventually in 1968 (after his death) consolidating into the Modern "ISS" [Integrated Service Solutions], which is now a multinational firm with more than 500.000 workers worldwide in more than 75 countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISS_A/S

So David used his money to get fancy dwellings and collected art; he stayed unmarried all his life (wife and big collections rarely go well together Laughing Out Loud

) .

His townhouse in Kronprinsessegade 30, Copenhagen, right next to Rosenborg Garden and -Castle is now his museum "David's Samling" (David's Collection).
Picture: http://parkmuseerne.dk/davids-samling/

His country estate was "Marienborg" on Lake Bagsværd, he left it in his will to the Danish State as summer residence for the Danish State Minister.
Picture: http://sondagsavisen.dk/wp-content/uploads/20...50134d.jpg

His collection started in 1910's when he bought sculptures and paintings from Danish artist [including 11 Wilhelm Hammershøi paintings !! known to those, who has seen the Michael Palin documentary about him].
As his wealth increased he expanded to include 17-1800'th century furniture and art-pieces during the Depression, where many foreign collection were broken up. He developed a special interest in Danish and European faience and porcelain.
To make his collection unique he then started collecting Islamic art and artefacts. It is for this part of the collection his museum today is World renowned. After his death - having no heirs - it was his wish to make his home public and free museum (which it is). Today the museum spends its money almost exclusively on expanding the Islamic collection.

Alexandrian-Arsenal-Sword from his collection:
Info from the Museum:
Sword, iron with brass pommel
France or Italy; middle of 14th century
Length: 105.5 cm

This one was donated by one of Shaban’s officers, Sayf al-Din al-Ukuz al-Malik Ashraf, in 769 H (1367-1368), but was later taken to Istanbul.
NB: The inventory number is 1/1998, so this sword must be bought in Jan. 1998 or so.

Front:

Source: http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/255/item/12.3-1...1229949999

Back:

Source: http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic...ge_index=1

Big pictures: [engraved details are not really visible on the small photos].
Front: http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/255/12.3-1-1998-Korsfarersvaerd.jpg
Back: http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/2015/12_3-1-199...n-side.jpg

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 9:54 am Post subject:

"Davids Collection" seems also to have bought interesting stuff from India after David's death.

Decorated tulwar.

.
Source: http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/594/item/K14.6-...1231410197
Big size image: http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/594/K14.6-8-1984-Svaerd.jpg

Museums info:
Steel saber, engraved and overlaid with gold, with a hilt inlaid with silver
India; c. 1800
Length: 86 cm
The gold-contoured engravings on this blade present a selection of hunting animals and their prey, a pair of mythical creatures, and a riderless horse.

Persian/Indian tabar.

Source: http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/519/item/K14.9-...1231410211
Big size image: http://www.davidmus.dk/assets/519/K14.9-12-1979-Oekse.jpg

Museums info:
Battle-axe, iron and gold damascening
India; c. 1800
Height: 55; Length: 13.1 cm
The short, elegant battle-axe (tabar-i-zin) comes from the Persian region, where it was already part of a horseman’s equipment in the early Islamic period. Not all battle-axes were velvet-clad parade weapons like this one, however.

More artefacts shown on this “art of war" collection:
Source: http://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic...t/45p-1982

Roger Hooper · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 11:05 am Post subject:

There are many Type XIIIb's that can be traced to the Alexandrian Arsenal - at least twelve, Some are still in Istanbul, the rest are scattered through Europe and North America.

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 11:20 am Post subject:

Roger Hooper · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 11:46 am Post subject:

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 11:52 am Post subject:

Roger Hooper · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 12:04 pm Post subject:

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 12:17 pm Post subject:

Mart Shearer · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 12:20 pm Post subject:

Odd that the brass pommel appears to be brass on the front and iron on the back. Is there an overlaid sheet of brass on half the pommel or is the second photograph black and white instead of color?

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Sat 06 Jun, 2015 12:24 pm Post subject:

Clive Thomas · Posted: Tue 09 Jun, 2015 3:33 pm Post subject:

The pommels of these Alexandrian Type XIIIb swords are entirely of brass / latten, and not a just a brass covering of any sort over an iron base. There are a few variations in style across this particular group, but they generally seem to conform to the type shown here, with incised (cast?) concentric circles on the faces and edges, and with a raised central 'hub' in the centre of each face.

At least two members of this group have pommels that lack the protruding 'hub', one has been fitted with a crown-shaped 'Venetian' styled pommel, and several further examples bear brass 'pear-shaped' pommels of possible Cypriot origin.

It is likely (from studying the range of makers marks that appear on them) that the blades of these swords were probably made in Milan, and they must have been superb cutting weapons. If you examine the edge geometry, you can see that the faces of the blade slope away from the fullers quite flatly (or with a very shallow convex curve, particularly at their centre of percussion) before reaching the cutting edges. The latter have a bevel of around 40-45 degrees, and are very narrow. As such, the edges resemble those seen on the Alexandrian Type XVIIIc swords of the Shaykh bequests of 1414-19 or so.

As for total numbers of Alexandrian swords known, I have records of around 170 pieces. This figure includes unmounted blades (all of which are in Istanbul's Military Museum) and a number of swords known only from nineteenth century photographs. The aforementioned Military Museum has 102 pieces with Alexandrian inscriptions, some of which are of a Syrian-Mamluk type although one or two of these have European blades.

It would probably not be unreasonable to suggest that there may be around 200 Alexandrian pieces worldwide.

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Wed 10 Jun, 2015 4:25 am Post subject:

Clive Thomas · Posted: Wed 10 Jun, 2015 4:04 pm Post subject:

Hi Niels,

This one is quite difficult to answer, as there are a number of swords in the group (mostly in Istanbul) that are known only by the hilt photographs published by David Alexander in his 1985 article for Waffen- und Kostümkunde. Of these, perhaps 26-30 pieces are currently on display in the museum, whilst others no longer on show can now only be seen in photographs taken in the 1970s and 80s, when the displays were arranged differently. While i have done my best to determine the Oakeshott Type of each sword as accurately as possible, for some pieces it remains extremely challenging.

Alongside the 12+ Type XIIIb swords known from the Ukuz (1367-68) bequest, the largest groups within the whole corpus of Alexandrian pieces are those of Type XVIIIc (17+ examples, all dated between 1414-15 and 1419-20) and those of Type XIX (8 known examples with very slender blades dated 1432). There are a few other swords of Type XIX, but these are generally a bit larger than those of the 1432 group. All of the above groups bear Italian makers marks.

There are many swords of Types XIIa, XIII, XIIIa, XVIa, XVII, XVIII and XX that do not really form immediately obvious groups within certain bequests to the Arsenal, and marks of both Italian and German makers can be seen among them.

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Thu 11 Jun, 2015 9:20 am Post subject:

Clive Thomas · Posted: Thu 11 Jun, 2015 2:38 pm Post subject:

Well, there are a couple of smaller groups that contain similar swords too. There's a group of 4 very broad Type XIII swords (and one unmounted blade) that bear inscriptions mostly from the Aristay bequest of 1400-01, although one is dated 1427-28. One member of this group sold at Christies (13th April 2010, Lot 60) for a record sum approaching £400,000. These pieces look superficially like the Type XIIIb swords such as the one in the David Collection, and have similar brass pommels but the blades bear German maker's marks. The blades are also different in cross section.

Another group of four similar swords of Type XVIa are known from the Shaykh bequests of 1414-16 also, one of which is in a private US collection. These also have German maker's marks of a distinctive nature - a triangle surmounted by a cross.

I would say that most of these identifiable groups of swords (perhaps with the exception of the broad-bladed Type XIIIs above) can be considered as princely gifts to cement treaties or truces. For example, following the Alexandrian Crusade of 1365, there followed an intense period of negotiation between Cyprus and the Mamluk Sultanate that was brokered by the Venetians, who had lost a great deal of commerce as a result of the crusade and its aftermath. Embassies were exchanged in 1366, 1367 and 1368, and it may be no coincidence that the first two identifiable bequests to the Alexandria Arsenal occurred in 1367-68 (most of which were the Type XIIIb swords, plus a few others), and in 1368-69 (which comprised a large number of diverse types).

Similarly, in 1414 a treaty was negotiated between the two states, and renegotiated two more times over the next five years. With that in mind, our attention is drawn to three groups of swords (mostly Type XVIIIc, but also the Type XVIa pieces mentioned above, plus a pair of XIXs) that bear inscriptions from 1414-15, 1415-16 and 1419-20. Again, this seems more than just a coincidence, and they are most likely to have been given to cement the treaty. Whether they were actually manufactured for this purpose, or if they were ordered 'off the shelf' (or were immediately to hand) is unclear.

The sword in the David Collection has indeed been known to me for some years, although I didn't realise where it was until about four years ago. It used to be one of those originally owned by E.A. Christensen, and it was assumed that after his death it ended up in the Nationalmuseet in Copenhagen. Before Christensen acquired it, it had been owned by Eric Valentine and Claude Blair. Christensen had three, possibly four, Alexandrian inscribed swords in his collection, including the lovely Type XVII shown in the post above that was sold at Bonhams. The third piece was also of Type XVII and arguably the best of the bunch, but I have no idea where it is nowadays.

As you say, the prices of these swords continue to rise. In the late 1980s they could be had for around £15-20,000, rising to circa £25-30,000 by the 1990s. Nowadays, a good example with a clear and identifiable inscription and a reasonable provenance can easily make six figures. The fact that they now also appear in sales of Islamic art rather than arms and armour indicates that they are being taken seriously by a broad spectrum of collectors, including several from the middle east who might be attracted to their status as religiously-endowed items as defined by their inscriptions.

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Fri 12 Jun, 2015 7:24 am Post subject:

Roger Hooper · Posted: Fri 12 Jun, 2015 2:03 pm Post subject:

One of my favorite Alexandrian Arsenal Swords is the Type XXa pictured below. Clive Thomas wrote about it extensively in his "Father of Victory" article in the 2008 London Park Lane Arms Fair catalogue. I'm not sure that it is a XXa, - IMHO it falls somewhere between types XVIa, XVII, and XXa. I loved this sword so much that I had Arms and Armor reproduce it as closely as possible without actually having the original in their hands - HERE - I did take some unforgivable liberties with the pommel recess.

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Sat 13 Jun, 2015 3:42 am Post subject:

Roger Hooper · Posted: Sat 13 Jun, 2015 2:45 pm Post subject:

Niels Just Rasmussen · Posted: Sun 14 Jun, 2015 9:32 am Post subject: