DAGGER

A cast iron antiquarian copy of a bronze age sword or dagger. It has a tapering triangular blade with rounded tip and oval shaped cross-section. The shoulder, at the join of blade and handle, is crescentic in form, cast as one, and with moulded decoration in imitation of Bronze Age examples. This comprises a central motif formed from a pellet with raised ring around it, followed by five evenly spaced dome-shaped 'rivet heads' in an arc around the top of the central motif. Above the rivets extends the integrally cast handle, which is rectangular in form, oval shaped in section and has transverse ribs. The hilt is flat, oval shaped in plan and with a projecting central knop at the top edge. The entire object has extensive iron corrosion. It measures 265mm in length, 75.94mm in width (at shoulder), 22.69mm in thickness (at shoulder) and weighs 778g.

This is a modern, antiquarian copy in iron of a Bronze Age dagger or sword. Dot Boughton (PAS) suggests that it is a copy of a Montelius' Period II solid hilted dagger or sword of the Nordic circle from Denmark or Southern Sweden, dating to between c.1500-1300 BC (equating to southern Germany's Reinecke Bronzezeit C). It is likely to have been produced at some point in the last two centuries, possibly as a museum replica or object of interest, although precisely whether it would have been functional (perhaps for use in re-enacting?) or simply for display remains uncertain.