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Originally Posted by Richard G
Hello Khanjar 1,
This is all very intriguing, I have been interested in Arabian weapons for many years and can't really remember seeing a "SwedeGreen" type until this post, yet Ibrahim says South Arabia is awash with them!
I offer the following observations or speculations, some of which I realise are contradictory;-
1, The drag on your scabbard could be from a hyena. Bertram Thomas describes shooting them in the Qarra mountains.
2, When I first saw SwedeGreen's swords I wondered how the hits were made; presumably from sheets of steel or iron, rather than drawn out from an ingot, and I imagine the seams where the hilt is attached to the "block" would be difficult to do on an anvil and would require some form of welding. i.e a type of hilt that could only be relatively modern.
3, When I saw your sword I wondered whether or not these iron or steel hilts were originally covered overall in silver, (like the hilt in the Wallace collection and this one. http://www.swordforum.com/forums/sh...pons-and-armour ) which has since been stripped off. If this were so it would answer a lot of questions. This speculation could apply to all these iron hilted swords.
4, Thus the decoration on your sword could have been made after the original silver was removed and the collar on your sword, an old, half-hearted attempt to restore it's former glory.
Regards
Richard |
Hi Richard,
1>The drag COULD be Hyena, but I am no expert on skins so that will have to remain unknown for now.
2>Welding has been around for centuries----blacksmith forges etc. My guess is hot metal beaten over a wooden core. NO SIGN OF MODERN TYPE WELDING.
3>Not likely I suspect though obviously one can not be certain.......
4>Doubt it very much...I personally think these are NOT swords of the rich, but probably of lower classes.....I would bet the decoration was always there. Even though none appears on Swedegreens swords, it does on some of those shown by others in this thread.
Stu