Late 12th-early 13th century AD. A well-balanced Western two-edged sword with tapering blade and shallow fuller, the cutting edges bearing much evidence of use on the battlefield; both sides decorated with inlay, later traced in order to highlight them; on one side of the blade a Greek cross inside a double circle, connected to the geometric design of the Greek Patriarchal cross; the other side with an 'S' inscribed within a double circle, extended upon the blade with two volutes, and followed by the image of a winged spear; the hilt comprising a straight cross-guard of Oakeshott's style 3 with squared ends and of flat rectangular section; a medium tapering grip with a solid disk pommel of Oakeshott style G.See Oakeshott, E., The Sword in the Age of Chivalry, London, 1964 (1997); Oakeshott, E., Records of the Medieval Sword, Woodbridge, 1991; cf. for a similar sword blade in Glasgow Museum reserve collection, in Oakeshott, 1991, type XI.7, p.60, although with a different cross-style, and the sword found in a ditch near Fornhams, Suffolk, today in the collection of Moyses Hall Museum, Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk (Oakeshott, 1991, type XI.9, p.62).1.2 kg, 86.5cm (34"). Property of a Suffolk gentleman; previously in an old UK collection; accompanied by an archaeological report by military specialist Dr Raffaele D’Amato.Many swords of type XI have a rounder, more contracted form of brazil-nut pommel, but many have disc pommels. The form of pommel and style of cross varied a good deal within the limits of custom and availability during the usage period, so it is not surprising to find blades of the same typology with different pommels and cross-guards. As Oakeshott (1991, p.65), wrote 'I must reiterate my firm belief that you cannot date a sword by its type, for most of the types...can span the whole of the medieval period. You cannot use the forms of the cross and pommel to date a sword – hardly ever.'

Fair condition.