English Bowman's Sword

[Jack Loomes]

A Very Rare English Bowman's Sword

With single-edged blade double-edged towards the point, cut with a single short fuller and struck with a maker's mark, a star and three pellets within a shield-shaped punch, on each face, iron guard comprising rear quillon of chamfered square section with flattened finial, rounded block incised with a pair of shallow lines on each side and extending to the knuckle-guard of flattened rectangular section with rounded pierced finial, tapering tang of flattened rectangular section retaining slight traces of the original grip, and plan flattened cap pommel with a pierced rounded extension similar to the knuckle-guard, the piercings almost certainly for a leather lanyard, the whole blued and in finely preserved condition

28in. (71cm.) blade

The 1966 catalogue entry notes "The Wakefield sword was acquired by the present owner shortly after its excavation during the course of the digging of a ditch at the site of the Battle of Wakefield (1460)"

A similar sword is held in the collection of the Royal Armouries (No. IX.144). See C. Blair, European and American Arms, No. 61

Provenance

H.C. Haldane Esq, Clarke Hall, Wakefield, Christie's, King Street, 14 April 1966, Lot 176 (purchased by the vendor's late husband)

Literature

Leslie Southwick, The Price Guide to Antique Edged Weapons, Antique Collectors Club, 1982, No. 39, p. 27

Exhibited

Wakefield in the Middle Ages, The Elizabethan Gallery, Wakefield Museum, 1990-1991

Source: www.christies.com/lot/lot-5758706