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Old 8th April 2017, 02:34 PM   #3
Lee
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Upstate New York, USA
Posts: 891
Red face Caught by the 'raindrops'

Mark,
I find your attribution most compelling! Thank you! Though not included with my photos, the aperture for the tang at the top of the pommel is very similar to that in the second photo that you have shown, though perhaps a little bit smaller and this upper hilt does appear to be solid. Also the dominant bulbous central lobe as seen in all of your photos is often associated with an eastern European origin in the Viking Age, so why not in closely following times?

In your last image, the similarity between the sword presented in this thread and #6 was striking (and searching the place name gave me only one hit: original paper Artūrs Tomsons: Ornamentation on the Hilts of Couronian (T1) Swords from the 11th-13th Century).

I have generated a side by side comparison of the pommels, brightening the image so that at least one 'raindrop' is evident on that central lobe as well. The cross guard still remains a mystery as the cross guards shown in the cited paper are more robust and consistent with the upper guards.

Thank you, gentlemen, hopefully more members will also share their observations.
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