Sword belt hook

[kronckew]

brits use that form now on sam brown belts. straight sword scabbard goes into a frog which has two angled straps that buckle on to the two square brass loops either side of the hook, allowing the sword to hang vertically. can be raised off the floor & hung on the hook by a loop on the back of the frog. little fiddly to remove for dinner, you can slide the scabbard out of the frog.

[rickystl]

This past year I purchased an Afghan belt assembly which included one of these hooks. I seem to recall a discussion in the Ethno Forum as to the primary use for this hook. There were several speculations, but nothing really conclusive.
It seems the purpose was to carry a sword, suspended from the top ring of the scabbard, while on horseback. I can't really think of any other use, other than a relationship to the sword.
I have seen a couple of these hooks pop up on Ebay. But the sellers want too much for them.

Rick

[Evgeny_K]

Thank you, Rick!

[Evgeny_K]

Hook for hanging the sword. The first half of the IX century
Archaeological finds in Gnezdovo ( settlement of the second half IX – XI centuries near modern Smolensk, with mixed Scandinavian and Slavic population)http://imgur.com/r/norse/NLGn6

[fernando]

Most interesting, Evgeny.
... as so are some of the other artifacts found, by the way:

.

[Evgeny_K]

another hook from Russia

[fernando]

One i would like to have