Details

LOT 0313

Viking Age Iron Sword with Bronze Hilt

10TH-13TH CENTURY A.D.

34 5/8 in. (675 grams, 88 cm).

With a double-edged tapering blade, long tapering fullers and a narrow tang; boat-shaped bronze cross-guard with Jellinge Style decoration; the upper guard with similar ornament topped by a seven-lobed pommel.

Provenance

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12011-213595.

Literature

See Kazakevičius, Балтские мечи IX-XIII вв. (Baltic Swords, 9th-13th century AD), Vilnius, 1996; Peirce, I., Swords of the Viking Age, Suffolk, 2002; Tomsons, A., ‘Symbolism of Medieval Swords from the territory of Latvia during the 11th-13th centuries’ in Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Archaeologica 29, Łódź, 2012, pp.145-161.

Footnotes

This Couronian sword finds a good parallel with Baltic swords, used by Prussian, Couronians, Estonian and Lithuanian pagan warriors; see a sword once in the Prussian Museum, inventory V. Nr. 8368, from Janischken (Fig. 1,a); other clear parallels can be seen in Kazakevičius, 1996, figs.62-63 (fig.2) and Tomsons, 2012, fig.2 (Fig.3),3,7. The Curonian swords of this type, sometimes with animal head decoration on the lower guard, were widespread and used in the Eastern Baltic lands from 10th to 13th century.