Item description
- Object: Sabre with gold fittings
- Origin: Magyar or Kabar
- Date: 10th century
The sabre has been preserved in very good condition; it has a slightly curved iron blade (95 cm long) with the tang curving toward the edge of the blade and the iron handle. It has survived with a complete set of decorated gold fittings for the pommel, grip and scabbard mounts, as well as an iron quillon and a silver gilt chape. It has been restored using wood and black leather. The component parts are as follows:
1. A rounded cap-like gold pommel, 7 cm long, with interlaced palmettes reserved against a textured field. On the main section of the pommel the background is hatched and on the side section of the grip the row of palmettes stand out on ring-matte ground. The side grip measures 8cm long, and the T-shaped loop which rests against the quillon, 4 cm long. Two of the large bossed and gilded pins that secured these fitments to the hilt survive.
2. An iron quillon, 9 cm long, with worn gilding, a rhomboid-shape central boss, arms cast with nested chevrons in relief, and round tips engraved with interlaced lines.
3. A long one-sided scabbard appliqué of undecorated gold sheet, 40 cm long, fixed by two small bossed gold pins, and two D-shaped suspension mounts, 5 cm each, decorated with palmettes against a hatched ground.
4. A rounded silver gilt chape, 5. 5 cm long, decorated with a palmette design similar to that of the pommel and the suspension attachments.
The shape of the blade and the particular style of the design from the decoration of its fittings leave no doubt that the object belongs to a well-known group of the sabres from the Hungarian conquest period and should be dated to the early 10th century. A few similar examples with gold and silver attachments found in princely burials in the Upper Tisza River Valley (Geszteréd, Karos Cemetery II, Tarcal, etc.) in modern Hungary, while some similar examples were found in the North Black Sea areas of modern Ukraine (Kharkov) and Russia (Gochevo, Kolosovka). It was from this region that the Magyar and Kabar tribes that emigrated to Pannonia at the end of the 9th century originated. The current example is particularly important, with all the scabbard fittings preserved, so may be considered as one of the best examples of early Hungarian weaponry.