Austrian Halberd, ca. 1580

Description

Deeply concave axe blade with angled rear beak featuring upturned hook and deeply stamped with a cog-shaped maker’s mark (so deeply stamped that it has punched through to the other side). Broad 11 1/4″ leaf-shaped thrusting blade with medial ridge. Integrally forged conical ferrule with single 4 ½” side strap; mounted on later hexagonal hardwood shaft. Metal lightly pitted with a deep blade strike to the beak (see photo). Length of metal 25″, overall 88″. Similar examples are featured in the Landesmuseum Graz, Austria. This was the capital of 16th C Styria, part of the Hapsburg Empire, which was at war with the Ottoman Empire from the 16th-18th Centuries.