Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Highly decorated medieval (?) french two hand mace

cornelistromp · 7th August 2014, 08:34 AM

It is a 20th century copy of a 16th century mace, in Ewart Oakshott and Clive Thomas typology of maces; type M2/b2 popular in western Europe in the early 16thC.

My first impression is that the shaft has been cast, original shaft of this type are hollow/tubular and formed by rolling or hammering a flat section of metal around a cylindrical former.The seam at the shaft of your mace itself is where it should be, a seam along the length direction!
Sometimes the central moulding divides the shaft into segments, wherein the cross-section of the shaft sometimes changes.
The flanges of the macehead of this type are fitted in slots cutted in the shaft, from the top down through the metal, and fixed with copper solder.
At the grip a lower guard/lower finial or pommel as you like is at original pieces fitted in the hollow shaft, it is not part of the grip. same for the top finial, at your pictures it looks like it is part of the shaft, one piece.
The head has usually 7 or 8 flanges, earlier types 6.
sometimes a hole is pierced through the shaft above the grip/moulding to fit a wrist band.
The weight of your mace is way too heavy, which should have a maximum of around 1.2 kg,
but most are lighter than 1 kg.

so my conclusion is a very nice early 20thC reproduction mace of type M2.

For an extremely nice article about earlier maces, see London park lane arms fair 2014- Clive Thomas/ the gothic mace.

hope it helps

Best,
jasper

7th August 2014, 08:34 AM	#7
cornelistromp Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1,057	It is a 20th century copy of a 16th century mace, in Ewart Oakshott and Clive Thomas typology of maces; type M2/b2 popular in western Europe in the early 16thC. My first impression is that the shaft has been cast, original shaft of this type are hollow/tubular and formed by rolling or hammering a flat section of metal around a cylindrical former.The seam at the shaft of your mace itself is where it should be, a seam along the length direction! Sometimes the central moulding divides the shaft into segments, wherein the cross-section of the shaft sometimes changes. The flanges of the macehead of this type are fitted in slots cutted in the shaft, from the top down through the metal, and fixed with copper solder. At the grip a lower guard/lower finial or pommel as you like is at original pieces fitted in the hollow shaft, it is not part of the grip. same for the top finial, at your pictures it looks like it is part of the shaft, one piece. The head has usually 7 or 8 flanges, earlier types 6. sometimes a hole is pierced through the shaft above the grip/moulding to fit a wrist band. The weight of your mace is way too heavy, which should have a maximum of around 1.2 kg, but most are lighter than 1 kg. so my conclusion is a very nice early 20thC reproduction mace of type M2. For an extremely nice article about earlier maces, see London park lane arms fair 2014- Clive Thomas/ the gothic mace. hope it helps Best, jasper Attached Images Last edited by cornelistromp; 8th August 2014 at 08:05 AM.