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Valsgärde Grave 5 Sword

In Sweden there is farm called Valsgärde where there is a large burial ground from the Vendel period.  In grave 5 a spectacular sword handle was discovered.  This sword is my attempt to approximately reproduce it.  The arrangement of the gems on the pommel had to be altered to accommodate commercially available stones, but other than that it is as close as I could get it.

The blade was made by K.C. Lund from Aus tempered  O1 and L6 and is 32" long.  The metal components of the handle are cast in tin bronze, and have 121 garnets set in them, along with 9 bone panels.  The handle wood is stabilized cherry burl.  The designs carve into the handle are different on each side.  I believe from looking at the original that the side with 3 bone panels on the guard was meant to be the side that was carried outwards when sheathed.  The sword weighs 3.0lbs

the 6th picture down is of the original piece, and the 7th is my version of the handle.  Comparing the 2 will show how I had to change the arraignment of the stones (on that side).

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