Hi All,
I have to respectfully disagree - the eagle headed spatha comes from Bonhams, one of the oldest and most highly regarded British antiquities auction houses!
http://sword-site.com/thread/299/roman-s...paraspatha
So I would be far more inclined to believe it is real than fake as they stake their reputation on every sale, and being more than 200 years old and having on hand a vast array of tertiary educated experts it is HIGHLY unlikely they would let a fake slip through. Additionally there is another eagle head spatha page 22 of Harvey J. Withers'
The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Swords and Sabres, so I must take you to issue on the claim that no eagle head spathae exist as it is wrong.
As for others being fake that is a pretty serious allegation you make with no evidence to support it! The patina of swords can vary vastly depending upon the conditions it has been subject to.
My money is on Bonhams and Harvey J. Withers (a professional sword dealer and author) rather than conjecture. The same applies to other allegations of forgeries - I'm very thorough - in fact I'm a graduate (B.A. European Lit.) and the focus of my studies was the Roman way of war. I'm happy to back the reputable dealers and museums unless tangible and substantial evidence proved otherwise.
The other eagle headed spatha is available to view here:
http://romanofficer.com/pages/roman-offi...-chape.htm
http://romanofficer.com/PermcolA.html
and I've incorporated it into my site:
http://sword-site.com/thread/108/roman-t...parazonium
Also because this is a Rome oriented site here's a link to where alot of the Roman Swords are:
http://sword-site.com/board/18/swords-an...era?page=2
There's a whole lot of interesting specimens there, the Guttman Gladius and the sword known as the Tiberius Gladius to name a few!
Sexy lace knickers? Haha, I've no idea, though there are ads on the site and they are generated based on your internet browsing history!
Enjoy the site guys! I enjoy RomanArmyTalk so much I thought I would share! Thanks for all the great feedback!