Pommel
 

Hello again
Recently I bought a sword with a bronze hollow pommel. Inside the top there were the remains of a tree. I first meet a medieval sword with a similar pommel. Can someone say more about this pommel ?
Best regards Alex

The symbol on your pommel is an old Norse(Viking) symbol for eternity.

Organic material would be the original material used to hold the pommel parts together.

There is an other forum thread that shows this organic material replaced with metal, as would often be the case as this swords was often passed from father to son and so on.

The original organic material might be a pointer to this sword having become part of a burial as it is likely the original composition of the pommel. Thus no modifications or repairs due to maintenance required over generations.

Tordenskiolds 1721, thank you for your participation, but unfortunately I have not received any new information about this type of pommel. This pommel is like the pommel of the Merovingian sword, but 300-500 years of time difference makes these pommels completely different. I am adding a photo of Merovingian sword's pommel and a photo given to me by the former owner of the sword, which shows the pommel taken off the sword during cleaning and conservation. It is clear that inside the top there are remains of an ancient tree. Of course, the tree served as a filler, but I think the pommel was kept at the expense of the tip of the hilt in the back of the top. I add also a photo of this detail. As reported by the previous owner, the original rivet had no force for fastening and the restorer did work to restore it. Maybe this fastening was an addition to the fastening with a wooden filler and the most riveted of the several parts of the pommel. Maybe someone still met a description of this top or has in his collection?

foto

Salsan,

Congratulations on your beautiful sword! It looks very Germanic. But the symbol on the pommel is originally Celtic (triquetra -triangular knot). I think Tordenskiold was suggesting that the sword is a viking sword which seems plausible to me. The vikings had contact with Celts in Ireland and Scotland. Many viking swords were manufactured in Frankish territory. Merivingians were Franks so there is a connection. Unfortunately I’m not familiar with your particular pommel but I’m not an expert on swords of this era.

Another sword, different but sharing some features
 

Here is a link to a mystery sword of mine along with some helpful comments from forum members. The pommel of your sword would have me thinking Migration Period, but the fuller really points to later, even slightly younger than the Viking Age. Though superficially different, please note that both swords employ an iron crossguard and also have hollow bronze pommels fixed in place by the peened tang.

Obviously there remain groups of swords that lie outside of the well publicized classifications and stripped of provenance in the antiques market, these present challenges to identification. In any case you have what appears to be a nice old sword.

Thank you for interesting thoughts and comments. Perhaps this sword did not wait to be classified. Can think that this will happen in the next thousand years...