European axe

[Iain]

Jim,

That was an absolutely fascinating read to go along with my morning coffee. Thank you for again sharing your knowledge and insights.

The only tidbit I can offer is the number eleven is occasionally associated with the eleven disciples - after Judas is dead, before Matthias is chosen. I doubt it has any use here but the number eleven is not one that usually crops up in Medieval symbology, at least in my scant knowledge.

Probably more likely is that it is indeed a tree of life depicting all eleven of the Sephirot. Actually you already have an image of this in your attachments. The configuration of ten is:

KETER, CHOKHMAH, BINAH, CHESED, GEVURAH, TIFERET, NETZATCH, HOD, YESOD, MALKUTH

The addition could be DA'AT, which usually replaces KETER in later versions but I guess could appear side by side.

The capital G letters may be nothing more than what the smith had at hand to make the terminal shapes and might have no greater meaning.

My only problem with the tree of life theory is that there are two extra lines present (without terminals) and that the arrangement of the branches does not fit within the normal configuration of the Sephirot, where the main trunk should also carry some of them rather than all being branches - this is important due to connections between the symbols. However this may be chalked up to a smith who didn't know better?

Best,

Iain