Here is an example of an entire hilt of crystal. It is up for auction in April at Hermann Historica in Germany.

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Mac, how do you like your book "European Swords & Daggers in the Tower of London"? I've had that volume for about 15 years, and I love many of the swords pictured therein. The photos are quite nice quality, too.

A query for those who may know:
How was a stone pommel attached to the tang? Were the metal "buttons" threaded on, or were they perhaps drilled and rivetted? Rivetting the tip to the tang would seem to have the least potential to harm the crystal, as a threaded piece could be over-tightened and cause stress fractures to the quartz.

If it were a tougher stone, such as a corundum (ruby or sapphire), the pommel could even take the heat of hot-peening an endpiece to the tang. I know of no historical evidence of pommels created from those minerals, however. Jade would also be a nice, tough stone from which to form a pommel, as many cultures used it to form entire weapons. Admittedly, many of those jade weapons were ceremonial.

Any commentary on the production of swords with these pommel types would be welcomed!

Cheers!

Photo & text: The Eleventh Park Lane Arms Fair, copyright D.A. Oliver, 1994.
Article entitled: "The Grip of the Medieval Sword and a Battle near Tagliacozzo", by Ewart Oakeshott

The third sword, which belonged to San Fernando, King of Castille, who died in 1252, is preserved as a Relic in the treasury of Seville Cathedral. It is handsome, though seemingly very un-practical, for its hilt is made entirely of semi-precious stone, with silver decorative mounts.(Plate 3). The pommel is of rock crystal with an elegant fillet of silver binding its circumference. Pommels of stone like this - crustal, jasper and so on - were not unusual in the Middle Ages; but grips, and perticularly crosses, of stone seem to have been rare. Here both grip and cross are made of Carnelian. The grip has fillets of silver top and bottom, and the straight cross of octagonal section has a decorative little sleeve on each arm, with a mounting of silver decorated with Hispano-Moresque "Mudejar" ornament forming the ecusson. As it is now, mounted upright in a silver base which holds the point-end of the blade, the hilt looks very delicate, far too flimsy to be of practical use; but after a lapse of seven centuries, its appearance may be deceptive. It is undeniably very handsome.

Mac

This sword is rather popular .
It was presented to Duke Friedrich of Saxony in 1425 by Emperor Sigismund.
The silverplates on the crystalpommel show the coat of arms of Bohemia and Hungary. The blade shows the Passau wolf mark, but fit and finish are considered to be of hungarian origin.

Unfortunately you cannot recognise from the image if the pommel is only "caged" or also drilled for the tang.

regards,
Thomas

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I've had requests to repost these images, as my old hosting site went kaput ..... Mac

Here's some more "thread necromancy" (I like that term :) ).

Here is another pic of the Sotheby's sword with red hard stone pommel. It was later sold by Peter Finer. It's in his 2003 catalogue.

I might disagree with the notion of it being entirely ceremonial. The edge bears nicks and other signs of use according to the cataloguer. Since Peter Finer uses experts as his cataloguers (Oakeshott, Edge, Capwell, Peirce, etc.), I trust the verbiage.

Also below is a pic from the same Peter Finer catalogue of different sword with crystal pommel.

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Thanks for those pics, Chad. There are some nice close ups.

And thanks for "reanimating the dead" on this thread. :) I'd forgotten about it, and there are some great pieces in here!

Great stuff. Love that pommel on the type XII Chad. Why are there rivet holes in the tang though? Would this sword have had some kind of slab construction for the grip? Seems a bit early for that doesn't it?

BUMP

Gregory Liebau linked this thread on a discussion over at Armour Archive concerning the 1357 Inventory of the Count of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland. With a little translation help from Robert MacPherson -
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewto...p;t=180240

Item, une petite espée à haldure d'argent s'a j pumiaul de rouge pière.
Item, a small sword with cross(?) of silver and pommel of red stone.

[ Linked Image ]

Similar dating though the attribution is Spanish....