Continuation....
Decoration
All faces are adorned with tausiert decoration from interlacing lozenges from red and white metal. Width of lozenges are 6-7mm, height also 6-7mm, and width of connecting strips are about 1-2mm.
There are four rectangular dots in every lozenges, in the picture 13 are highlighted by yellow dots.
Edge of pommel is adorned by narrow lines in shape of letter V from red and white metal. Width of this strips is about 0,75mm, see pic 14, where are in scale 4:1 .
Special is executed passage of decoration to ends of guards – see pic. 8, 11 and 15.
Decoration of the upper and lower faces of the upper and lower guard is formed by plating with the yelow metal, see pic. 7a.
Pic. 13 Pommel with highlited „dotes“
Obr. 14 Wiev of decoration of pommel from side, scale 4:1
Obr. 15 Detail of the adornment of the lower guard in scale of 2:1
Material of decoration – according to SHM, white metal is certainly silver, red metal is copper. Today visible copper is only foundation for ultimate surface created by golden copper alloy. Pure copper was not visible at all. Traces of golden copper alloy are visible on the faces of the pommel and guards – see pic. 4 and 11. Upper and lower faces of the upper and lower guard are also plated probabaly by the same golden copper alloy – see pic. 7a.
„Dots“ lying in every lozenges were probably from another colour copper alloy than the rest of the hilt. Most of the rectangular dots however show the underlying reddish copper. Nevertheless, as for the materials of the decoration of the hilt it is difficult to determine the contents without a SEM analysis.
The groove between pommel and upper guard / see pic. 8/ indicates that there possibly has been a braid or twisted wire between the upper guard and the pommel but there are no visible remains. For example you could see pic. 16, 17, and wider one in 19.
Pic. 16 Sword from Novgorod with copper alloy plating and twisted wire in notch between pommel and upper guard
Pic. 17 Sword from Kilmainheim with twisted wire decoration in this notch
Pic 18 Another example of wire braid in this notch
