ANCIENT VIKING SIDE KNIFE OR POUCH KNIFE, 879-1067 AD

Cambridgeshire, England. About 6 3/8 total length with low dropped point in scramasax form and 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 thin fighting section. 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.