LOT 0456

Merovingian Sword with Garnet Inlaid Hilt

5TH-6TH CENTURY AD

34 1/4" (4.6 kg total, 87cm including stand).

A two-edged sword comprising a lentoid-section iron parallel-sided blade with broad pointed tip; bronze rectangular lower guard with gilding to reverse and garnet cloisonné to the obverse, tubular bronze grip with rectangular cell and inset garnet cloison, biconvex agate disc with washer and retaining pin through the tang; mounted on a custom-made stand.

From the family collection of a South East London collector; formerly acquired in the late 1950s; accompanied by a metallurgic analytical report written by Metallurgist Dr. Brian Gilmour of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, report number 134792.

For garnet cloisonné lower guard see Menghin, W. Das Schwert im Frühen Mittelalter, Stuttgart, 1983, item 47 (Arcy - St. Restitue, France ) and 56 (Planig, Germany, grave 1).