Hi Richard,
you are right if I use the word
never in a discussion with my wife, 9 of 10 times it means that Iam in serious trouble
re:carving in iron in high relief.
In the national museum in Helsinki are (plenty) viking Hilt examples of iron carving in high relief.
what we know and have seen in viking swords is only "the top of the iceberg" there must have been 100's of thousands of swords.
Unfortunately there are only a few % remaining for study, which are obviously far from representative of what was common in forging /patterns and of what was common in the use of certain type of decorations.
best,