The Asby Scar Sword
- Gallery: Room 50
- Culture: Iron Age; La Tène
- Date: 1stC
- Object type: sword
- Materials: copper alloy; glass; wood; iron
- Museum number: 1994,0204.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "The Asby Scar Sword," a remarkable object from the Iron Age, dating to the 1st century. This sword was discovered buried in its scabbard at Asby Scar in 1993 and purchased by the museum in 1994.
What you see is an iron blade, significantly corroded inside a bronze scabbard. Though broken, the sword is elaborate, with a bronze hilt that is richly decorated in repoussé—artistic hammering from the reverse to create raised patterns. The hilt is adorned with intricate designs, including diagonal rectangles and trisceles, a motif resembling spirals, and features beautiful red glass "enamel" in a pattern of triangular cells.
Made with a combination of cast, engraved, and repoussé techniques, the hilt includes a crown-shaped cap, a flared guard, and a pommel with stunning bronze decoration and domed, intricately worked components. Despite the damage over time, this piece reveals a great deal about the craftsmanship and artistry of the Iron Age in this region.
See it in person
The Asby Scar Sword is on display in Room 50 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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