Among the Green Leaves

tonight i was watching the antiques roadshow on a whim. turns out it was an episode filmed at the los angeles convention center. i didn't think much of it other than "oh, i have been there".

about half way through an item comes up for appraisal in which the very first thing shown is the hilt of a sword. "huh," i thought. "i have seen a sword with a hilt just like that."

then they panned back. well, hell. not only have i seen that particular sword i have actually held it in my hand.

the sword is an ottoman shamshir of damascus steel with a rhino horn pistol grip hilt which belongs to a very old man whose uncle found it in a cave while on a mining expedition on the isle of cyprus in the 1930s. the uncle found a cache of ottoman and roman treasure. a number of the items are now in museums in italy and on cyprus.

the old man brought the sword to someone i used to work with to have it restored. yeah, i have held the perfectly balanced sword and admired the craftsmanship of the persian blade folded to look like fine wood grain. the turkish made grip of rhino horn has a solid gold hallmarked langet. according to the expert on the roadshow it was made in the late 17th century.

small world.

i love fantasy imagery when it is well done. this music video is for the song "Shine on Me" by chris dane owens. it was directed by special effects artist robert short who won an Oscar for makeup in Beetlejuice, constructed the mermaid for Splash, designed the suit for the tv show The Flash and created visual effects for Punisher: War Zone (i am sorry).




oooo, check out the wall jewelry swords by marto. /snark