A&A Sword

[kevin714]

What is the consensus on this A&A Irish sword as far as historical accuracy? And what about the blued version? Any and all valid opinions will be appreciated. I am told it was based on a sword in a private collection. What do you think?

[brendan]

Swifty (of the 28 swords) is your man for the provenance of the sword.
I have a blued A&A practice sword which is quite nice (Scholar type). The bluing is cool, and darker than a lot of what you see but (and I am not sure what is normal) the blu does tend to scratch easy; I guess it gives a used look to it, but it may represent a flaw in the process used - not sure on that

Brendan

[Swifty]

Yeah - had a look at this before - A&A are a good company, but this specimen is not a replica of any one particular sword that I know of. Maybe it's from a private collection so private that nobody in Ireland knows about it including the National Museum which I doubt. Anyway the blade only conforms to those illustrated in the hands of kerns in the famous Ashmoleum illustration 'On The Quick' in so far that it is a plain diamond section and fairly broad but does not resemble any of the archaeological blades that are currently known. The hilt furniture is not wrong as such but it does not conform to any one sword but is a composite of two or three. Not a bad generic re-enactment sword of the period - but not a replica either in the strict term of the word.

[kevin714]

Thanks for your reply I appreciate your opinion. I asked him to counter curve the guard. Do any of the museum pieces have a straight guard like this? I am under the impression that they are all counter curved or rolled in some way. Is this correct? In the pictures of the River Bann sword I cannot tell, is it counter curved also?

[kevin714]

Swifty whats your opinion on the bluing?

[finnobreanan]

I don't know when the bluing of steel started, but I know the English did not start bluing military weapons until the early to mid ninteenth century. I can't imagine the Irish in the early modern period doing this. Weren't some armor pieces blued in Europe during the middle ages? I can't find anything definitive in my reference books.

[kevin714]

Thanks Scot I suspected it was not historicaly accurate but it looks cool so I had to ask. Whats the deal with the blackend chainmail is that accurate?

[Swifty]

Hi Kevin

Firstly - you're right - S-shaped quillons do appear on several of the Irish ring-pommelled swords e.g. the examples from Lough Neagh, the River Suck and the two-handed specimen from Manchester - but there is still a majority which do not - so the A&A sword is fairly representative in terms of its quillons.

Secondly - I don't see any problem with the blueing of the hilt furniture.

[kevin714]

Hi Kevin

Firstly - you're right - S-shaped quillons do appear on several of the Irish ring-pommelled swords e.g. the examples from Lough Neagh, the River Suck and the two-handed specimen from Manchester - but there is still a majority which do not - so the A&A sword is fairly representative in terms of its quillons.

Secondly - I don't see any problem with the blueing of the hilt furniture.

Thanks Swifty, can you tell me which examples don't have the "S" shaped or counter curved guard? I have never seen one and always thought that the majority had them,I have learned something new today. If you could point me in the direction of some examples I may save myself the extra 40 bucks and instead go for the blueing since if you say its ok thats good enough for me. It would be a real help if you knew of any pictures of swords that may match the closest to what this one is based on as far as the guard.

Thanks again.

[Swifty]

Yeah Kevin I think the problem with perceptions of this type of sword is that the S-quilloned versions tend to be the more famous ones and hence the examples which are replicated more frequently by manufacturers.

My best suggestion for you would be to contact the people at http://www.ria.ie/ and order a copy of Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 'Irish Medieval Swords' Vol 86, C, No 5 by Andy Halpin and published in 1986 - ISSN 0035-8991.