[C. Gadda]

Pleiner, in his book "The Celtic Sword", describes some Celtic sword blades that have punchmarks of various sorts, in the form of zoomorphic animals (boars, horses, bulls, etc.), anthropomorphic marks, astral or planetary symbols (solar discs, crescents, etc.), punched dots (i.e. "shagreening"), and footprints. While going on for a couple of pages verbally descibing them, Pleiner does not deign to show us unwashed masses photos or even line drawings of these punchmarks, which is most inconvenient (and one of the things I really dislike about his book).

I have exactly one (1) drawing of a sundisc and crescent on an anthropomorphic short sword blade out of Clarke's "An Iron Antrhopoid Sword from Shouldham, Norfolk, with Related Continental and British Weapons", which I've attached below. Does anyone have photos or drawings of any of the other types of markings outlined above? I'm especially interested in the animal punchmarks, and perhaps also the footprints, as I'm working on a La Tene style long sword blade right now, and might consider putting something like this on the blade. Thanks in advance for any help folks can provide.

[Kirk Lee Spencer]