Medieval sword with broken Blade.

[Cerjak]

O.L. 72 cm ; blade width at hilt 4.5 cm
grip 17,5cm
guard of type 2 18.5cm
Pommel type K with a flat well pommel with prominent square boss
Even with a shortened blade this sword could be classified as a type XIII A because it has a long grip and a blade whose edges are running nearly paralled and a guard of type 2 very common on type XIII.
Any comment on it would be welcome.
Cerjak

[Reventlov]

Thank you for sharing this... shame this interesting sword is in such rough condition! If I am not mistaken, this sword has been circulating among auction houses in recent years, and is described as formerly in the collection of Dacre Kendrick Edwards?

The square boss on the pommel is distinctive and seems like it may be an Eastern European feature in particular... there are a number of examples in Ukrainian and Romanian museums, mostly with XIIIa blades, some having multiple small fullers (something else that seems common in the East) like this one:

http://clasate.cimec.ro/detaliu.asp?...AB430B21F12C04

There are several examples in the military museum in Bucharest in particular. I've attached one more from Lviv, and a pommel found in Moldova. There is also one in Berlin, and one in the Fitzwilliam Museum (published in Records of the Medieval Sword).

The finest example appears on the sword of justice of Sigismund the Old, king of Poland. This is the both the youngest example I have found (c. 1520) and the most distinctive blade: an estoc/koncerz-type thrusting sword quite unlike the others.

best,
Mark

[Cerjak]

Hi Mark
You seem detain a large documentation about medieval swords and I really appreciate that you have posted some examples with similar pommels.
Till now I don’t have any information about the provenance so if you have some data about this sword it would be great to see it ,I did not found any result in my research on the collection of the late Dacre Kendrick Edwards.

Best
Jean-Luc

[cornelistromp]

jean Luc, very interesting and rare sword, beautiful patina with brown shades.
are there remains of an inlay?
nice to see that the point of the sword had been put on/repaired with two rivets through the blade, sometime ago.

if you are lucky you find the point again in some auction.

best,
Jasper

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by Cerjak

Till now I don’t have any information about the provenance so if you have some data about this sword it would be great to see it ,I did not found any result in my research on the collection of the late Dacre Kendrick Edwards.

Here is the only source I have for it being part of the Edwards collection, the description when it was sold by Bonhams. The sword is lot 112, but it is only shown in a group photo attached to lot 110.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/149...?category=list

I think it has also come up at Hermann Historica, without mention of provenance. If it was indeed in the Edwards collection, it seems it must have been sold in 1961 as part of a lot of many sword fragments... perhaps there is someone in the community who has a copy of that catalogue to confirm!

[Cerjak]

Thank you Jasper,
amazing that you saw it on this low resoltion pictures !
You have brought to light a very interesting detail about this repaired blade,
Do you know other example with such reparation ?
Unfortunately there is no remains of an inlay visible.
Best

Jean-Luc

[Cerjak]

Originally Posted by Reventlov

Here is the only source I have for it being part of the Edwards collection, the description when it was sold by Bonhams. The sword is lot 112, but it is only shown in a group photo attached to lot 110.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/149...?category=list

I think it has also come up at Hermann Historica, without mention of provenance. If it was indeed in the Edwards collection, it seems it must have been sold in 1961 as part of a lot of many sword fragments... perhaps there is someone in the community who has a copy of that catalogue to confirm!

Dear Mark
Thank you very much to have provide the provenance from this sword.
This information is very precious and also I can’t understand why It had not been mentioned in the description by the seller.
In this picture you still have the Christie’s label including the date of sale.
Best cerjak

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by Cerjak

In this picture you still have the Christie’s label including the date of sale.

Oh well spotted! I hardly noticed that label... Congratulations on your acquisition again.