Would you call this a lance or a pike ?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by freebooter

The "S" seems consistant in grouping only with those previously found on Nimchas and those cuban machetes mentioned in past postings from memory.....is there a link???

Gav

Right on Gav!!!! Very well noted!
Those deep squiggle 'S' marks are all over on the blacksmith grade blade on the now identified as Cuban sword example I had. In that case they were stamped in rows all down most of the blade.
It has been suggested in many ethnographic cases that if a single quality or representative trademark imbued quality or talismanic properties in a blade, then several or many! ....well, there's the idea.

We'll see what Ed can find on the S marks. I cannot resist thinking of the serpent metaphor in sword blades from the Viking period describing the pattern welded blades and the classic article by Lee Jones, "The Serpent in the Sword" (I always loved that great title!!

All the best,
Jim