FINE VIKING SIDE KNIFE OR DAGGER, 879-1067 AD

Cambridgeshire, England. 7 7/8 total length with wedge section blade retaining considerable original surface. tapered "whittle tang" which identifies these, as they were used without guards, mounted in a wood or antler grip (See Leather Working Reverend and Inhabitat for similar examples with original grips). Blade of wedge section with a straight back, with distinct clipped point in the scramseax fashion. A slashing weapon, designed for throat-cutting, these were so esteemed by Vikings that it was these, rather than the larger scramseaxes, that were buried with the warriors. Virtually every old town in Cambridgeshire has a recorded Viking history. Ely Abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish raiders and Huntingdon was a staging place for Danish raids until 917, to mention two. Excavated and professionally conserved with Plexiglas display mount.