Relic Roman Gladius Sword
 

At a recent event a friend, who has been a serious collector since the 1960s and who has some amazing items, bought along what appears to be a relic Roman Gladius Blade. Its previous owner's father had found it in about the 1940s in a north London area - he was a labourer/contractor and I gathered that he found it when drain clearing or somesuch.
My friend has recently re-hilted it, using shark vertebrae for the grip. The blade is 20 inches long and, although not immediately apparent in the poor quality phots I took, the tip is less corroded and appears to have once been hardened - presumably for better penetration etc.
This does not appear to me to be something made in modern times and deliberately aged and I was impressed by it. I thought I would share photos of it here, and gained permission for that. I am interested in any knowledge that any experts here may have of this weapon type.

That is impressive.
I have been fooled before, in my less careful days, by fake aging on axes but that does look authentic as though it has been buried for many hundreds of years.
Be interesting to see what the experts say.