July 7, 200916 yr Hi all, I wanted to test my new avatar. This pike is an antique but not what you might think. This was made for an Earl Flynn movie called The Sea Hawk, I have two of them. The are heavy brass beasts. They are only seen a few times in the film; mostly troops marching by. Thought you might get a kick out of them. Dave
July 8, 200916 yr Could you post a larger picture? Your avatar is too small to see clearly...at least on my computer...
July 8, 200916 yr Author Good idea, here are a few close up shots. It stands at six feet, the pike on top is 11 inches and it is 11 inches wide as measured from the axe to the hook. You can see the level of detail. Weighing in at 10 pounds it is not something you want to drop on your foot. Brass with a 1
July 8, 200916 yr Thank you for the photographs, the pike is beautiful. I gather that the movie was set in the time of Elizabeth I (7 September 1533
July 8, 200916 yr The Idea of the "little pointy thing" is to hook horsemen or other opponets and pull them off balance. IIRC most of the pole arms were intended to function offensively against mounted or unmounted knights, and as crowd control. The holy wood version photographs well but the weapons carried by the Swiss Guard in Ceremonial attire are more like the practial weapons.
July 8, 200916 yr After thinking about it for a while the "pike" displayed should, I believe, technicaly be classified as a halberd. It was used in conjunction with pikes by both the swiss mercenarys and the Germanic Landsnecht. Pikes were usually single points on long poles with the specific intent of holding off advancing infantry or discouraging mounted attackers. The Swiss mercenary army was feared because they were better disciplined and co-ordinated and able to move in attacking formations more sucessfully than ther opponets/
July 8, 200916 yr Author You are right; technically, they are halberds and not pikes. When they were packed for shipping the seller placed them into a large PVC pipe and faced them opposite directions. He did this to balance the load. He then built large circular containers to cover the metal ends. When it was all done UPS showed up at the door with what the driver must have thought was the world
August 1, 200916 yr That hook portion of the halberd had another function as well, albeit a very grim one. Once you'd knocked your Knight off his horse you still then had the job of getting at him underneath his armour. Ever seen an old style tin opener? Nuff said :D
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