Interesting sword for comment

RSWORD · 16th July 2006, 05:25 PM

Thanks for the additional feedback. It is interesting to note that one of the colleagues I showed the piece seemed to recall some similar styled examples he had seen in a museum in Yemen. However, no literature or pictures from that museum and it may be a dead end lead. I acquired this piece from Czernys last year and they had it described as African but I felt it certainly was not African given it's overall dimensions and profile. I need to follow up with them to see if they have any provenance on the piece. I do agree that this sword has the possibility to be quite early. The short tang would have been suitable for a cast hilt which would have sit squarely on the shoulders of the blade and the tang adhered which is obvious as we can see the remnants of this pitch. One gamble would be to attempt to carbon date the pitch as it is an organic material but I run the risk of the blade being rehilted numerous times in it's life and the results would be inconclusive if anything but an early date was returned. Still, to further the research it may be worth doing.

16th July 2006, 05:25 PM	#18
RSWORD Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,087	Thanks for the additional feedback. It is interesting to note that one of the colleagues I showed the piece seemed to recall some similar styled examples he had seen in a museum in Yemen. However, no literature or pictures from that museum and it may be a dead end lead. I acquired this piece from Czernys last year and they had it described as African but I felt it certainly was not African given it's overall dimensions and profile. I need to follow up with them to see if they have any provenance on the piece. I do agree that this sword has the possibility to be quite early. The short tang would have been suitable for a cast hilt which would have sit squarely on the shoulders of the blade and the tang adhered which is obvious as we can see the remnants of this pitch. One gamble would be to attempt to carbon date the pitch as it is an organic material but I run the risk of the blade being rehilted numerous times in it's life and the results would be inconclusive if anything but an early date was returned. Still, to further the research it may be worth doing.