Bronze cladding for the wooden gladiuspommel

[Anonymous]

Michel Feugère mentions in his book 'Weapons of the Romans' the existence of bronze cladding for wooden pommels. There is also a picture of an artifact. He gives the suggestion that most pommels would have been equipped with it, but that due to the frail (thin) material not much survives to the present day.<br>
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Question: Is there any other reference of bronze cladding out there besides Feugère?<br>
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Jurgen/Quintilianus <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Bishop and Coulston ""Wooden bone, or ivory hilts could be used, some of these being silvered" (reference in illustrations to a "complete silvered handle from Mainz-type sword (Rheingonheim)". All the Rheingonheim replicas I have seen have the usual bone hilt and wooden pommel and guard, though.<br>
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Paulus <p></p><i></i>

[Crispvs]

I believe that at least one of the swords from Pompeii survived with its handle intact and according to Connolly's painting of it the handle does not appear to have been covered by any metallic sheathing. I have yet to read Ulbert's paper on these swords though. Perhaps someone else here has?<br>
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Crispvs <p></p><i></i>

[mcbishop]

<em>He gives the suggestion that most pommels would have been equipped with it, but that due to the frail (thin) material not much survives to the present day.</em><br>
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Umm, more frail than the wooden components themselves? The wooden pommels from the Schutthügel at Vindonissa did not have such sheathings and I suspect if they were indeed used then they would be the exception rather than the rule.<br>
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Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>

[hansvl]

Quote:</em></strong><hr>I believe that at least one of the swords from Pompeii survived with its handle intact <hr><br>
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I checked the article by Ulbert. He states for one of the three gladii from Pompeï: "Der kugelförmige Knauf (Bein?) muss ebenso wie der Handschutz mit Bronze- oder Silberblech überzogen gewesen sein." But he doesn't indicate why he thinks so.<br>
If in the Schutthügel at Vindonissa no pommels show a sheating, then I think this practice wasn't really widespread.<br>
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Hans <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Some pieces from hod hill show that some gladius guards had cast copper alloy fittings which extended half way up the guard, a more intact version is on display at the dorchester museum, whether these are more roman or native is debateable, but they were certainly designed for the classic gladius blades, regardless who was using them. This isnt really sheathing in the same sense, but does represent a local approach to covering parts of the wooden assembly with copper alloy.<br>
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[Daniel S Peterson]

I know of no bronze clad guards and pommels, but the Rheingonheim gladius had the wooden guard, pommel and grip completety sheathed/encased in silver plate. A skilled silversmith could do this today, but it would be expensive. You could "fake it" by painting a silver-based coating on the parts, and then have them silver electroplated.<br>
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As Mike said, there are a number of surviving wood, ivory and bone guards and pommels, yet none show traces of metal cladding. I do have a bronze clad wood pommel, but it may have been for a medieval sword as the shape doesn't quite match the Roman norm.<br>
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It should be said here that most reenactors have grossly exaggerated the size of their sword pommels. The Deepeeka ones seem rather small by comparison, and are based on the average size of the surviving artifacts.<br>
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Dan <p></p><i></i>