River Witham Knightly Sword with Scabbard, 13th C

River Witham Knightly Sword with Scabbard, 13th C.

This beautiful one-handed sword is based on an original from the collection of the British Museum in London. The arming sword, dated to the 13th century, was found in the River Witham near Lincoln, England, in 1825. A distinctive feature of this sword is the inscription „+NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+“ embedded with gold wire. Despite countless speculations and attempts to decipher it, the meaning of the supposedly Latin acronym remains unclear to this day.

The sword has a wide, double-edged blade with unsharpened cutting edges. Two fullers run down almost its entire length. Like the original, these are engraved with the inscription on one side and a sequence of symbols consisting of crosses, crescents and stylized quatrefoils on the other. The crossguard and wheel pommel, which is riveted to the full tang, are made of steel. The wooden handle is wrapped with brown leather straps.

This arming sword comes complete with a brown wood-and-leather scabbard with steel chape and throat and articulated suspension rings for a sword belt.

Please note that this medieval sword is not a battle-ready weapon. It is designed as a collector´s or decoration/display piece and is not suited for combat re-enactment. Besides its quality as a collectible, it is also perfectly suited as a prop, e.g. to complete your costume.

Details:
- Blade material: high carbon steel
- Rockwell hardness: 48 – 52 HRC
- Handle material: leather-wrapped wood, with steel guard and pommel
- Overall length: approx. 93 cm
- Blade length: approx. 76 cm
- Blade thickness: approx. 5.3 mm
- Hilt length: approx. 16.5 cm (grip approx. 10 cm)
- Max. blade width: approx. 5.4 cm
- Point of balance: approx. 15 cm from the guard
- Incl. wooden scabbard with genuine leather cover and steel fittings
- Weight without scabbard: approx. 1.5 kg
- Weight with scabbard: approx. 2 kg

Specs may slightly vary from piece to piece.

The steel used here is not rust-proof and might show slight surface tarnishing in places. We recommend you to maintain the blade on a regular basis, for example using Ballistol Universal Oil, which is ideally suited for steel care.

Please note:
We do not sell this product to customers under the age of 18. Please provide your birth date when ordering. We´ll also need a copy of your ID-card or passport by email, scan, fax or mail.