Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Sword (with Ivory hilt). Carried by Sir Colin Campbell. Commander-in- Chief in India in the Indian Military.

 Sword (with Ivory hilt). Carried by Sir Colin Campbell. Commander-in- Chief in India in the Indian Military.

Ceremonial sword of King Stanisław August Poniatowski


Ceremonial sword of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, made in Warsaw, ca. 1764. Displayed in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

The Isle of Man's Sword of State


The Sword of State is hugely important to the Isle of Man, it is a symbol that Tynwald is the oldest continuous parliament in the World.

It depicts the Manx national symbol, the three legs of Man and despite various upgrades over the centuries, probably has its origins in the 1400s.

The sword is one of the earliest objects to associate the symbol of the three legs with the Isle of Man.

Wyatt Earp's pistol, left behind in Juneau, Alaska

Wyatt Earp
Born March 19, 1848(1848-03-19)
Monmouth, Illinois, U.S.A.
Died January 13, 1929(1929-01-13) (aged 80)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Occupation Gambler, Lawman, Saloon Keeper, Gold/Copper Miner

The 6.5 mm Carcano rifle owned by Lee Harvey Oswald

In March 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, alias "A. Hidell", purchased a 6.5 mm Carcano rifle (also improperly called Mannlicher-Carcano) by mail order. He also purchased a revolver by the same method. It is officially accepted that this was the rifle that was used in the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, Texas to assassinate United States President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade drove by on November 22, 1963.  Photographs of Oswald holding the rifle, a palmprint  found upon examination of the rifle, and detective work tracing its sale, all eventually led to Oswald.

Deringers:The pocket pistol used by John Wilkes Booth in the Abraham Lincoln Assassination.





Because of their small size and easy availability, Deringers sometimes had the dubious reputation of being a favored tool of assassins. The single most famous Deringer used for this purpose was fired by John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Booth's Deringer was unusual in that the rifling twisted counterclockwise (left-handed twist), rather than the typical clockwise twist used on most Philadelphia Deringers.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

El Cid's sword, Tizona



 El Cid's sword, Tizona
A weapon traditionally identified as El Cid's sword, Tizona, used to be displayed in the Army Museum (Museo del Ejército) in Toledo. In 1999, a small sample of the blade underwent metallurgical analysis which confirmed that the blade was made in Moorish Córdoba in the eleventh century and contained amounts of Damascus steel.

In 2007 the Autonomous Community of Castile and León bought the sword for 1.6 million Euros, and it is currently on display at the Museum of Burgos

Seven-Branched Sword



The Seven-Branched Sword 

The Seven-Branched Sword (七支刀), also known as the Seven-Pronged Sword, the Seven-Branched Knife, the Seven-Pronged Spear, Nanatsusaya no Tachi in Nihon shoki, Chiljido in Korea is a 74.9 cm long iron sword with six branch-like protrusions along the central blade, designated one of the National Treasures of Japan. The original sword is currently housed in the Isonokami Shrine in Nara Prefecture of Japan and not shown to the public. Replicas are displayed throughout the country and in South Korea. An inscription on the side of the blade is an important source depicting the relationships between the East Asian countries of the period.

Rapier of Sir William Harris


Rapier of Sir William Harris

Rapier of Sir William Harris 1584 - 1616. High Sheriff of Essex 1598 Located in All Saint's Church in Creeksea, Essex. Formerly located in Creeksea Place manor.

The Imperial Sword (Reichsschwert)

 The Imperial Sword (Reichsschwert)

The Imperial Sword (Reichsschwert), is one of four Imperial Regalia (Reichskleinodien) of the Holy Roman Empire. During the coronation, it was given to the emperor along with the sceptre (Zepter) and the Imperial Orb (Reichsapfel). Currently, the sword and the rest of the Imperial Regalia are kept at the Schatzkammer Treasury in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria.

Sword of Stalingrad




The Sword of Stalingrad

The Sword of Stalingrad is a bejewelled ceremonial broadsword  specially forged and inscribed by command of King George VI as a token of homage from the British people to the Russian defenders of the city during the Battle of Stalingrad. On 29 November 1943 it was presented to Marshal Stalin by Prime Minister Churchill at an afternoon ceremony during the Tehran Conference in the presence of President Roosevelt and an honor guard.

Masonic symbols (sword of Lafayette).


Masonic symbols (sword of Lafayette).

Sword of Saint Peter

Sword of Saint Peter


The Sword of Saint Peter (Polish: Miecz świętego Piotra) is allegedly the sword with which the Apostle Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant at the time of Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane.

The sword is wide-tipped, similar in shape to a dussack or machete. It currently resides in the Poznań Archdiocesan Museum.

An exact copy of the sword, made by Bogdan Puchalski, is displayed on the wall of the Poznań Archcathedral Basilica.

The hilt of Kubrat's sword


The hilt of Kubrat's sword bears a Greek inscription and is decorated with crosses, indicating that its owner (or the original owner at least) was a Christian.


The Pereshchepina Treasure (Russian: Перещепинский клад, Bulgarian: Съкровище от Мала Перешчепина) is a major deposit of BULGARIAN, Sassanian, and Avarian objects from the period of the Volkerwanderung.

The deposit was discovered in 1912 in the village of Mala Pereshchepina (13 km from Poltava, Ukraine) by a boy shepherd who literally stumbled over a golden vessel and fell into the grave of Kuvrat, the founder of Great Bulgaria and father of Asparuh, the founder of the First Bulgarian Empire. The hoard was extracted under the supervision of Count Aleksey Bobrinsky, a renowned archaeologist, who published its description in 1914.

The hoard contains more than 800 pieces, now preserved in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. There are 19 silver vessels and 16 gold vessels, including a striking rhyton and remains of another. The official website of the museum speaks about

    a staff with gold facing, a well-preserved iron sword with an end in the form of a ring and gold facing on the hilt and scabbard… gold jewellery — a torque, an earring, seven bracelets and seven rings with inlays of precious stones (amethysts, sapphires, tiger-eyes, garnets, rock crystal, and emeralds)… and square gold plaques for the facing of a wooden funeral construction".

The total weight of gold from the deposit exceeds 25 kilograms, that of silver objects — 50 kilograms.

Bronze sword excavated from a tomb in Guangxi that dates to the late Warring States period or early Nanyue Kingdom.


Bronze sword excavated from a tomb in Guangxi that dates to the late Warring States period or early Nanyue Kingdom.

Sword surrendered by Edhem Pasha after the defeat at Plevna.


Sword surrendered by Edhem Pasha after the defeat at Plevna.

The Siege of Plevna or Siege of Pleven during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), saw a major struggle between the joint army of Russia and Romania  and the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish defense held up the main Russian advance southwards into Bulgaria, ensuring other great powers of the time to actively support the Ottoman cause. Eventually, superior Russian and Romanian numbers forced the garrison to capitulate.

The Kirkburn Sword


The Kirkburn Sword, kept in the British Museum.

Kirkburn is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated about 3 miles (4.8 km) south west of Driffield town centre and is on the A614 road. An important archaeological relic was found in 1987 during the excavation of a nearby Iron Age grave, dateable in the 3rd century BCE. The Kirkburn Sword, as it became known, is described by the British Museum as "probably the finest Iron Age sword in Europe". Its handle is assembled of 37 pieces of iron, bronze and horn and decorated with red glass. Its scabbard is made of iron and polished bronze, decorated with a scroll pattern in the style of La Tène culture, with red glass studs and insets.

Sword of Goujian

 

Sword of Goujian



The Sword of Goujian (Traditional Chinese: 越王勾踐劍 , Simplified Chinese: 越王勾践剑) is an archaeological artifact of the Spring and Autumn Period found in 1965 in Hubei, China. Renowned for its sharpness and resilience to tarnish, it is an historical artifact of the People's Republic of China currently in the possession of Hubei Museum.

Captain Walter Stauffer McIlhenny's combat helmet and the captured Japanese samurai sword that dented it


Captain Walter Stauffer McIlhenny's combat helmet and the captured Japanese samurai sword that dented it, National World War II Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Sword of Mehmed II


Sword of Mehmed II

Swords of different Ottoman Sultans on display at Topkapi Palace.


Swords of different Ottoman Sultans on display at Topkapi Palace.

Ceremonial sword of the Rector of Ragusa.

 
 Ceremonial sword of the Rector of Ragusa, donated 1466 by King Matthias Corvinus as a sign of his judicial authority.

Sword of Caliph Umar, with later hilt.



Sword of Caliph Umar, with later hilt.

Damascus sword given to H.M. King Carol I by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Aziz

Damascus sword given to H.M. King Carol I by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Aziz.The Sword of King Carol I of Romania has a Damascus steel blade and the handgrip is gold plated. The sheath has 1140 jewels and 46 diamonds.

A flintlock blunderbuss, built for Tipu Sultan


A flintlock blunderbuss, built for Tipu Sultan in Seringapatam, 1793-94. Tipu Sultan used many Western craftsmen, and this gun reflects the most up-to-date technologies of the time.