Modern swords look very different from museum antiques. The modern sword, whether factory made or hand forged, is shining new and ready for use. The artifacts that now rest in museums and private collections are by comparison dull – their blades pitted and rusted, their edges dull, their handles long crumbled away into dust. Found in past battlefields, in river beds, buried underground for centuries, they seldom attract the eye as bright, newly-forged swords do. Yet it is their imperfections, evidence of long history,makes them more prized than any modern production sword. Collectors will often artificially age their swords in order to recreate the look of an antique.
For this reason, Darksword Armory has created the Excavation Series. These swords are hand-forged like the rest of our line, and given a rough temper, and left unpolished. Once forged and assembled, the swords are buried in the ground, exposed to the water and minerals of the earth. This allows each Excavation Series sword to experience a small fraction of what a true antique will over centuries. We unearth them later and brush off the dirt, exposing rusting and pitting that would not normally be left on a sword for sale. This process ages the sword considerably, setting it apart from other modern reproductions.
While we at Darksword Armory cannot give you true artifacts, our process creates a remarkably authentic looking antiqued sword that helps recreate a museum feeling in your home. Darksword Excavation Series swords – designs from the past, hand-forged in the present, and unearthed for your collection.
Each Excavation sword can either be ordered with a natural or brown leather wrapped handle, or without leather wrapping.
1200 12th C. Medieval Dagger
-280x182.jpg "1200 12th C. Medieval Dagger")
1080 – 1150 AD
Museum of London,
Original found in the River Thames in London.
1201 14th-15th C. sword
1350 – 1400 AD
Metropolitan Museum of arts
Original found in the River Thames in London.
The 14th C. marked the outset of the devastation set by Hundred Years’ War, which lasted from 1337 to 1453. This sword, is an example of many designs of the period. With its' wide blade ending to a shapr and narrow tip, the blade proove very useful against the increasing use of plate armor.
1200 11th C. Viking sword
Original found in the National Museum, in Copenhagen.
The Vikings raided wide areas of Europe and North Atlantic islands between the late 8th to the mid-11th Century. The Vikings, or Vikingr in old Norse, used their longships, or Drakkars, to travel to Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia in the east, to Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland in the west. This period of Viking expansion had a tremendous event on the development of history throughout Ireland and Europe in general.
(more...)
1202 10th C. viking sword
Original found in the Tower of London, H.M. Royal Armoury collection.
(more...)
1203 12th C. Medieval Sword,
1000- 1100 AD
Ex. Wilczec Collection, presently in the
Landdesmuseum, in Zurich. 16203.
Updating...
Updating...
1332 Gothic Sword
1335 Viking Sword
1352 Two Handed Danish Sword
1306 Medieval Knight Sword
1307 The Norman Sword