Sword 16: A Shiny One! (by Pablo Benavente)

9/3/2016

This is a guest blog post contributed by Fake Hercules Sword Whisperer Pablo Benavente. I have yet to update the database with the information from Sword 14 . . . and there are at least two more that we know of but haven't written about yet. The plot thickens.

"We all can't shine at the same time."

The timeless wisdom of Rapper Juicy J. becomes reality with Fake Hercules Sword 16: "The Brassy One."

JA Sterling (freelance writer, Friend of Swordgate, and frequent contributor to the Fraudulent Archaeology Wall of Shame group on Facebook) stumbled upon Sword 16 on this blog (you'll need to scroll down a bit in order to see the original photo) while searching for something else. Here is the only image we have so far, cropped and rotated:

The description next to the sword image can be translated as "Photo: Votive sword with Commodus-Hercules hilt". The writer mentions his name on the post and that he lives in the Catalonia region of Spain.

The photo seems to be mirrored (i.e., reversed -- Hercules is facing the opposite direction from the other swords), and upon close inspection, it seems to be a "J" type sword. I have enhanced the original photo for better appreciation of the details.

Comparison of original image of Sword 16 and an enhanced and flipped version. We're not sure if the swords work as north-pointing navigational aids when they're placed on a vinyl bench.

The most interesting characteristic of Sword 16 is its lack of heavy, green patina. Is this a photo of a finished sword "as is" (without addition of the heavy artificial patina we see in the other swords) or of a sword that's been cleaned?

We have no information about when the photo was taken or any other details about the sword. I have made several attempts to contact the webpage's author with no luck yet. Hopefully he will see my requests and tell us more about it.

Note (Andy White): My hunch is that, unlike the other swords, a heavy artificial patina was never applied to Sword 16. It seems that the "fake" patina was applied to the other swords to increase their appeal as antiques (perhaps so they could be marketed not as authentic ancient Roman artifacts but as relics related to the nineteenth century Grand Tour). This makes Sword 16 very interesting: why was no fake patina applied to this particular sword? Where was this sword "found" and photographed?

12 Comments

GEE

9/3/2016 07:11:00 am

I noticed they all do have the same markings on the blade. I also noticed a seem possibley on your enhanced photo JA, near the arm and chest. Interesting find, thank you

Only Me

9/3/2016 07:42:40 am

At last! You've found it! THE original Hercules sword in all its golden glory!

....

Wait a minute... That's brass? Dang it, so close yet so far. Oh well, at least there's two more, so one of them must surely be The One, right?

All kidding aside, nice job Pablo. Looking forward to what the other two may add to the growing database.

Jim

9/3/2016 07:56:44 am

Hey,,, it might still be the original, perhaps someone recently filched the gold gilding leaving it nice and shiny.

Only Me

9/3/2016 08:07:26 am

I have to admit, for a cheaply made tourist trinket, that handle design looks pretty good without the artificial patina. If the blade had been of better quality, it would be a nice item to bring back from vacation.

Peter Geuzen

9/3/2016 10:01:25 am

Never underestimate the folks who think polished is better than tarnished. I call your hunch Andy, and say there is an equal or better chance that this is cleaned. I've been a part time antiques guy for a long time and there are more destroyed patinas than there are original. This applies to metal as well as wood - refinishing and polishing was a plague for many years with many products thrown into hardware stores to napalm the snot out of your old stuff. Things are a bit better more recently with the layman's knowledge that one gets from the Antiques Roadshow or similar shows, but the 70s to 90s were bad years for devaluing antiques. On another note, how the heck am I supposed to update the dang poster if this keeps up?

Andy White

9/4/2016 04:48:40 am

Good point. How would one go about removing an artificial patina like those on the other swords? Would you soak the sword in a chemical bath, rub the stuff off, or what? In the photo it looks like there is some "natural" patina of the brass in the low spots and crevices. That could have formed through regular exposure to the atmosphere - a few years? - decades?

Jonathan Feinstein

9/4/2016 07:55:20 am

Or the bits of patina in the low spots might be leftover traces of artificial patina that was rubbed off.

Hard to tell from the photo, but it seems on first sight that some details, like the lions and palmette are better delineated than most of the "J" types, but that the lion skin is about the same. That might be consistent with cleaning. My guess is that is was cleaned, possibly in a pain-staking manner, carefully by hand.

It does, kind of look better in this form, but as Peter said, had it been an authentic artifact, removing natural patina might have ruined the piece.

Peter: how to keep up? Hmm, maybe switch from poster to loose-leaf notebook and just add pages for each new sword? <shrug> keep up the good work, though!

Peter Geuzen

9/4/2016 12:30:13 pm

The most common way to clean anything from metal is steel wool and elbow grease, with the next step up being grinding and buffing discs or wheels you put on a drill or a bench mounted motor. Adding commercial cleaners will make things go faster. Brass will start to oxidize and turn darker as soon as it's cleaned but it might not go verdigris if it's in a relatively climate controlled environment and not in contact with other metal or adverse chemicals. Any trace of verdigris might just be what was missed from the initial cleaning. Even if other brassy versions show up, I would still bet on cleaned rather than original. As far as the poster goes, the existing version is 2' x 3' so I think it will have to go to 3' x4' to still be a standard size for big format printing.

Bob Jase

9/4/2016 08:21:09 am

That Commodus, whatta generous guy!

Tom Rent

9/6/2016 05:03:17 pm

Truth be damned ...
https://huttonpulitzernews.org/2016/09/06/hutton-pulitzer-j-hutton-pulitzer-romansinamerica/

Peter Geuzen

9/6/2016 09:16:32 pm

Seriously? Yet another desperate lame duck website? Wow, sad.

Jonathan E. Feinstein

9/7/2016 09:44:09 am

He almost has to be teasing us on that one. There's no information on that site at all, just the same old montage of his manufactured evidence. Once again we see a desperate cry for attention. All the site essentially says is the "Me me, me, me, me!" of a three-year old.

Sword 16: A Shiny One! (by Pablo Benavente)

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