Great war sword
This great war sword from around 1350 from the ex Carl Gimbel collection and ex EA Christensens collection scores very highly on my “most favorite sword list”.
It is of enormous proportion 7.5cm wide at the cross with a total length 127cm. Medieval swords are rare, well the real ones are, but medieval swords with a blade wider than 5cm are extremely rare.
It is large in proportion but still feels light in the hand, due to the flat diamond wedge blade geometry it is a sword that is very suitable for cutting and effective against light amoured men fe in the warmer areas where heavy armour could not be worn.
Of unusual shape, difficult to classify in Okeshott typology , but if it is necessary, a type XVIIIC because of the flat diamond wedge geometry.
Nice and remarkable is the photo at Christensen's home where the sword hangs in the centre and to the right of it hangs a very famous Medieval Sword From The Mamluk Arsenal At Alexandria, sold in 2012 for GBP 163,000.
published in Literature:
Lepke 1904 Carl Gimbel collection nr. 337
Hoffmeyer 1968, cat. no. 47, pp. 35, 76 and 79, figs. 7 and 17
The Sword-Form and Thought 2015 pp. 90 and 91
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