Huge southeast european battle axe

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Many Húskarls from the British Saxons relocated post 1066 to the Varangian Guard, they paid well. And took their large Dane axes with them. The bayaux tapestry shows them decapitating horses with them. The drawing above shows a variety of axes, including what i think may be Swedish style Viking axes, the ones with the heads on a sharp bend at the business end of the haft. The others look like a mix of styles. I found another Varagian guard illustrated with s crescent bladed axe and rear spike, but no crosses cut in it... Might have picked it up in his travels from Hastings. Maybe a son or grandson had the cross cut in or ordered a new axe...also showing is a double bladed Byzantine axe wit two crosses... And a single bladed one with a sq. hammer poll...

The Turks ended them in 1453 when they finally made it thru the formidable walls - by treachery I hear - and the last eastern Roman Emperor put on his armour and at the head of his guard charged the incoming Turks slaughtering many before disappearing from history. They never found his body.

I’m not too familiar with Byzantine arms and armour. Archaelogical finds suggest that vikings serving Constantinople often used their personal arms (swords and axes), but I can’t rule out that they were also issued Byzantine arms and seems logical that this was the case especially for palace guard and parade duties. Care should be taken in considering provenance of historical items.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by Victrix

... Care should be taken in considering provenance of historical items.

Especially with Vendor/Auctioneer descriptions that can be wildly wrong. Caveat Emptor

[AHorsa]

Originally Posted by Victrix

I’m not too familiar with Byzantine arms and armour. Archaelogical finds suggest that vikings serving Constantinople often used their personal arms (swords and axes), but I can’t rule out that they were also issued Byzantine arms and seems logical that this was the case especially for palace guard and parade duties. Care should be taken in considering provenance of historical items.

I think the regular army might have used local arms and armour.

In 2009 the axe on discussion and a couple of similar pieces wearing a cross were sold at Hermann Historica: http://www.hermann-historica-archiv.de/ Maybe it was a hoard?
I will write them a mail asking what made them locate it in southeast europe and if they have more information. Maybe they can remember.

Interesting to see a nearly identical axe on the foto from ebay / picclick. The seller is from Serbia. So it would fit the attributed region. The double bladed axe looks somehow odd. I don´t think it is a real piece.

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by AHorsa

I think the regular army might have used local arms and armour.

In 2009 the axe on discussion and a couple of similar pieces wearing a cross were sold at Hermann Historica: http://www.hermann-historica-archiv.de/ Maybe it was a hoard?
I will write them a mail asking what made them locate it in southeast europe and if they have more information. Maybe they can remember.

Interesting to see a nearly identical axe on the foto from ebay / picclick. The seller is from Serbia. So it would fit the attributed region. The double bladed axe looks somehow odd. I don´t think it is a real piece.

Yes those ebay items look more dubious. I don’t think I would consider buying something “excavated” on ebay, especially not from Bulgaria and E.Europe. The item under discussion looks more interesting but probably wise to let an expert handle it in real life to verify it.

I attach another photo from Ljubljana of Schiavonesca swords which are massive in size. I think armed conflict in that region had very high stakes as mentioned previously, and that this is reflected in the scale and brutal functionality of the arms.

[AHorsa]

Thanks for sharing your impressions from Slovenia!

Originally Posted by Victrix

The item under discussion looks more interesting but probably wise to let an expert handle it in real life to verify it.

I am afraid that will be difficult as I don´t know an expert for axes, especially not in my area. I add more detailed images to this post. The traces of age look authentic to me, but most of you might have seen more than I did so it would be great to get your opinion. The weight is 945 gram.

Best regards
Andreas

[kronckew]

Looks like a good light (for it's size) thin battle blade, the thickening near the edge looks like an inserted harder high carbon steel edge in the lower carbon main body, or a harder blade section hammer welded to the rest..

It could be carbon dated but that's fairly expensive.

[AHorsa]

Thank you Kronckew! Sounds good
The blade just appears thicker on the image because this part is nearer to the camera. But I think it could be another steel anyway as this part is not that affected by the rust pattern as the other half of the axe.

[shayde78]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Looks like a good light (for it's size) thin battle blade, the thickening near the edge looks like an inserted harder high carbon steel edge in the lower carbon main body, or a harder blade section hammer welded to the rest..

It could be carbon dated but that's fairly expensive.

Can non-organic material be carbon dated?

[kronckew]

In spite of the first couple of Googled sources that say no, you can.

Radio Carbon Dating of Iron Objects