LOT 0287

Viking Iron Sword with Silver-Inlaid Hilt

10TH-EARLY 11TH CENTURY A.D.

36 in. (985 grams, 91.3 cm).

Double-edged Petersen Type S sword with a gently tapering long blade, the rounded point well preserved; the well-defined cutting edges show strong traces of employment with battle-nicks along the entire length; straight blade with a slender tang; the shallow tapering fullers visible showing shallow traces of pattern-welding; the boat-shaped guard with rounded ends and applied Ringerike Style ornament; short grip, the upper guard curved upwards and separated from the three-lobe pommel by inlaid silver wire; possibly later inlaid silver bands marking the separation between the lobes

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 no.13443-262858.

Cf. Petersen, J., De Norske Vikingsverd, Oslo, 1919; Oakeshott, R.E., The Archaeology of the weapons, London, 1960; Peirce, I., Swords of the Viking Age, Suffolk, 2002; Marek, L., Early Medieval Swords from Central and Eastern Europe: Dilemmas of an Archaeologist and a Student of Arms, Wrocław, 2005; Hjardar, K. & Vike, V., Vikings at war, Oxford-Philadelphia, 2016, p.169, for the type; the sword finds good parallels in various similar Viking Age specimens, like the sword from Mixnam’s pit, Chertsey, today at the Chertsey Museum (Peirce, 2002, pp.98ff.).