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LOT 0261
Viking Age Iron Sword of Petersen Type X
10TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
36 1/2 in. (1.2 kg, 92.5 cm).
Comprising a fine double-edged tapering blade, shallow fullers and defined cutting edges showing traces of employment; short, rectangular-section lower guard and tapering tang, tea-cosy pommel of early type; some restoration.
ProvenanceAcquired 1990s-early 2000s.
East Anglian private collection.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, 1384, Waffen-und Kunst-Sammlung Karl Gimbel, Baden-Baden, 1904, no.330; Petersen, J., De Norske Vikingsverd, Oslo, 1919; Oakeshott, E., Records of the Medieval Sword, Woodbridge, 1991; Renaud, J., Les Vikings en France, Rennes, 2000; Roesdahl, E., Wilson D.M., From Viking to Crusader: The Scandinavians and Europe 800 to 1200 (22nd Council of Europe Exhibition), Copenhagen, 1992; Peirce, I., Swords of the Viking Age, Suffolk, 2002.
FootnotesThe sword is Petersen type X (Petersen, 1919, pp.158ff) and Oakeshott type XI (1991, pp.53ff.), finding good parallels in various similar Viking and Norman age specimens (Peirce, 2002, pp.115 ff.). The overall proportions of our specimen are eye-catching and it is strikingly similar to a pattern-welded sword found with a large number of other objects, at Camp de Péran, Côtes-d'Armor, France, in a 10th century context, probably linked with the early Norman settlers in Normandy or Norman raids in Brittany (Roesdhal, Wilson, 1992, p.321, cat. n.359; Renaud, 2000, p.100).
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