Falchion, Soesterberg, Type 2
Falchion inspired by example in Nationaal Militair Museum, Soesterberg, the Netherlands, dated to 14th century.
That is a second known and original example of the Type 2 according to typology of James Elmslie.
The other one is in Musée de l'Armée, Paris, France and it is definitely more known than that one.
The Paris example is complete and the one in Soesterberg has no crossguard and is more corroded, although blade geometry can be recognized.
It also has a well-preserved pommel.
I was trying to point the important differences between these two original falchions of this type.
They are actually of the same form but the blades are slightly different in fact. I probably marked this difference in geometry quite strongly, but it only emphasizes the shape of the blade and gives the unique character of this weapon.
The museum dating is 1370-1400 but I would claim that it can a bit earlier example, around 1330-1360. That is because of the pommel form and we can find some nice examples in historical sources (manuscripts) dated earlier (they starting to appear around 1270-1280and give way to other types around 1400).
I decided to give it a crossguard of Oakeshott Type 6. Most sources shows curved types of crossguards for this falchions. However, according to my claim that it is an earlier example, I decided to give it the crossguard of that form. The crossguard in example from Paris is definietly later type.
Blade has a fuller on one side only, same as the one in Paris.
Measurements:
total length 890mm
blade length 740mm
blade width 42/65mm
grip 99mm
crossguard 195mm
pommel 45x24mm
PoB 150mm
weight 1180g
Note: This sword, like any handcrafted sword in the medieval style, can have traces of the manufacturing process, minor irregularities or asymmetries resulting from the specificity of real craftsmanship and medieval understanding of aesthetics, that are completely normal and do not affect the quality of the sword, but give it a unique original character, consistent with medieval objects of the same kind.