myArmoury.com - Arms and Armor Custom Alexandrian Arsenal type XXa Sword

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Posts: 1,903 Location: Toronto

Sun 09 Jun, 2013 6:26 pm

Roger Hooper wrote:

Please forgive the long post. I'm kind of obsessed with the detailsof this sword.

Thanks for sharing those details and your thought process! It just goes to show how much thought goes into these purchases, especially the custom orders. Its a very personal thing. And no need to apologize - you're at home amongst sword geeks here (thanks Nathan Robinson). I recently heard someone define geeks/nerds as someone who is extremely passionate about their interests. I like that. I'd rather be a nerd than the opposite of that definition.

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Mart Shearer

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Posts: 1,302 Location: Jackson, MS, USA

Mon 10 Jun, 2013 5:52 am

Roger Hooper wrote:

Here is a drawing from around 1400 that Clive Thomas includes in His "Father of Victory" article. He says that it shows a sword of this type. It does look very much like the III.1. Curious how that dagger is piercing right through the breastplate. Artistic License?

The actual miniature to contrast to the simplified line drawing:
http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4093/9549/

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Roger Hooper

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Posts: 4,393 Location: Northern California

Mon 10 Jun, 2013 9:28 am

Thanks for that picture - the blue color suggests that the man being stabbed by the dagger is wearing a surcoat over mail instead of a breastplate.

There is another sword over to the right that looks like it is the same design.

Last edited by Roger Hooper on Thu 13 Jun, 2013 12:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Michael D.

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Posts: 7 Location: Texas

Mon 10 Jun, 2013 12:55 pm

Roger Hooper wrote:

You may be curious about the coins mounted in the pommel insets. To answer J.D.’s question, there was nothing mounted in the original's pommel recesses, or if there was, it got removed. I felt that they were spaces begging to be filled. They are silver replicas (you can also get them in tin – much cheaper) made by Antiqua Nova Mint in the Czech Republic. They make Greek, Roman, Medieval coins, and are just about the best in the world at doing that.
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Thank you sir! I have been trying to find a source for a project of my own, and you just handed it right to me. Many thanks, that is a great link!

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Roger Hooper

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Posts: 4,393 Location: Northern California

Mon 10 Jun, 2013 1:22 pm

Michael D. wrote:

Thank you sir! I have been trying to find a source for a project of my own, and you just handed it right to me. Many thanks, that is a great link!

Another source - Coin Replicas - Their stuff isn't quite as sharp as Antiqua Nova's, but still very good and worth checking out.

Generally, the best coin size fit for a typical J1 pommel is a Roman denarius. Ancient Greek coins are often too big.

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Michael D.

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Posts: 7 Location: Texas

Mon 10 Jun, 2013 2:15 pm

Thanks again for the second link.

The dimension info is also handy, I had already looked at a couple of options, including getting Ernie over at Yeshua's to do something custom for it due to the aforementioned issue with size.

I had looked at doing something similar with a sword of war and a templar coin, that was going to be a custom job as well due to the size of the coin.

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T. Kew

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Posts: 256 Location: London, UK

Mon 10 Jun, 2013 3:29 pm

Roger Hooper wrote:

Thanks for that picture - the blue color suggests that the man being stabbed by the dagger is wearing a surcoat over mail instead of a breastplate.

I think that looks more like a fabric covered breastplate than a surcoat.

Note the globose shape, and that the blue is solely on the breastplate and doesn't cover any of the faulds.

I'd guess the dagger penetrating it is simply artistic license.

Edit: Typo correction.

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Roger Hooper

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Posts: 4,393 Location: Northern California

Wed 12 Jun, 2013 10:39 am

Here are a couple of full length photos from A&A, one with scabbard. All great swords deserve to have a scabbard.

That's a good looking chape.

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Roger Hooper

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Posts: 4,393 Location: Northern California

Wed 19 Jun, 2013 12:20 pm

I now have the sword in hand. I could not be more pleased with it. Elegant is the best word to describe it. Besides being beautiful, it is great to wield, light, fast,and tracks very well. It weighs 3.3 lbs, but feels much lighter. It has that lively, "alive" feeling shared only by the best designed swords. The blade is very stiff - this sword's main purpose is obviously to pierce through mail, leather or cloth, and find its way between plate armor seams and chinks.

Here are a few photos that I took - I'm having trouble getting a decent full length picture. Note the area beyond the double fullers. Clive Thomas had described it as a single fuller, but as you see here (also if you look closely at the photos of the original) it is more of a triangular plateau that narrows down into the spine of the diamond cross-section.

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Michael D.

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Posts: 7 Location: Texas

Wed 19 Jun, 2013 1:07 pm

Gorgeous blade sir, congrats!

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J.D. Crawford

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Posts: 1,903 Location: Toronto

Thu 20 Jun, 2013 8:44 am

Congratulations Roger!

That's a very fine and unique piece. Although I tend to go for the broad bladed cutters, lately I've been very attracted to the pointy ones like this.

By the way, mine is still in the shop. We've been having a hard time deciding what sort of grip to put on it. Probably done soon.

-JD

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