Gilding on European Medieval Swords
 

On Oct 5 I made a presentation at the New England Bladesmith's Guild Ashokan Sword Seminar. The theme for the weekend was 'Gilding the Lily' and in keeping with that I decided to share some results from an X-Ray Fluorescence survey of my collection completed shortly before the Pandemic that I will also share here now. This technology allows nondestructive detection of heavier elements on or near the surface of an object.

Oakeshott type XV - Fourteenth Century
 

Gilding over the forte and hilt elements is not unexpected in this timeframe. I have had concerns about the authenticity of this sword that I have had over a quarter of a century, so you can imagine how pleasing it was to find a feature invisible to the naked eye that a forger would have had no motive to put there.

The yellow-orange marks on the orientation sheet denote areas where gold was detected.

Oakeshott type Xa - Eleventh Century - +INNOMINEDOMINI+
 

Swords from this era are generally regarded to have been austere plain steel and are rarely encountered in other than excavated condition.

Oakeshott type X - Tenth to Eleventh Century - +ULFBERHT+
 

In this timeframe very attractive overlay work in silver, copper and rarely gold may be found on hilts particularly from Viking infested lands. The brazil nut pommel suggests a more southerly origin for this example and would not be expected to feature such decoration.

WOW
 

Hey Lee. These are your swords??? You own an ULFBERHT?
This is where the name of the forum comes from? I've often wondered.
Thank-you for letting me see these.