Late Roman Pattern-Welded Spatha Sword Blade 4th-5th century A.D. A double-edged long sword (spatha) of Illerup-Wyhl typology; the blade with damask pattern (torsion damask technique B.H.I.2.1-2) running all its length on one side and half a length on the other side but with a different pattern (herringbone pattern); narrow parallel cutting edges tapering towards the point; long tapering tang, with iron fastening nail for the organic hilt. Cf. Engelhardt, C., Sonderjyske og Fynske Mosefund, Bind I-III, Copenhagen, 1869 (1969), pl.VI (Nydam); Bishop, M.C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment, from the Punic wars to the fall of Rome, London, 1993; Miks, C., Studien zur Romischen Schwertbewaffnung in der Kaiserzeit, I-II Banden, Rahden, 2007; D’Amato, R., Roman Army Units in the Western Provinces, Oxford, 2019; for a very similar specimens see Miks, 2007, nos. A121(Dabrówka); A536, 80 & 83 (Nydam); A744,1 (Twielenfleth). 480 grams, 90 cm (35 3/8 in.). Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector. Accompanied by an academic expertise by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate no.11393-192361. A great number of Late Roman swords with pattern-welded blade have been found in the territories of the so-called Barbaricum and specifically in Nydam Mose and Illerup Adal, modern Denmark. About 75 % of the swords found in Nydam, were pattern-welded and most of them were of Roman origin. Miks notes that among these swords, those with technically complex damascened patterns are more likely to date to the Ic deposit phase, corresponding to the 2nd half of the 4th century A.D. Less complicated are the pattern-welding of the swords of the successive period, consisting mainly of stripe decoration. They were made most probably in Romano-Celtic areas, e.g. in South Germany or Rhine area. In the rod structure (B.H.) of these Roman swords, the material layers in the cross-section of the blade were vertically arranged, showing a construction of rods forged together. Usually the term damascened is only used from the way in which their individual rods are forged to create a desired pattern effect that remained visible on the surfaces of the finished product (technique B.II.1.2.). The shape and regularity of the pattern was essentially dependent on the number and nature of the individual rods and on the skills of the blacksmith. The scholars differentiate on this basis more or less careful and complicated variants (e.g. striped, diamond, herringbone, angular, rosette, mosaic, etc.), in which the individual rods from different iron lamellae, which are parallel or twisted (torsion pattern-welding), were built up often in connection to each other (technique B.II.1.2.1-2). In our sword stripe, torsion and a herringbone patterns are visible. Combining striped rods that were partially straight and partially twisted - clockwise or counter-clockwise - allowed the formation of a very decorative blade.