‡ A NORTH EUROPEAN BASKET-HILTED MILITARY BACKSWORD (TESSAK), LATE 16TH CENTURY, with tapering double-edged blade of diamond section over the upper half and of flattened-hexagonal section over the lower, the latter chiselled with a series of dots and lines within a framework on each face over the forte (an early laminated repair in the centre), iron basket-hilt of characteristic form (slightly loose), comprising a pair of vertically recurved quillons with pronounced globular terminals each chiselled with a woven design of diamond-shaped panels, symmetrical basket-guard formed of a pair of saltires each joined at the base by a scrolling bar and divided by the knuckle-guard, basal plate pierced with a pair of holes front and back, pommel decorated en suite with the quillons (areas of pitting), and later leather-covered grip, 91.3 cm blade Hilts of this form are associated with both North Germany and Scandinavia. See Norman 1980, p. 149.