Knife with "Thekenbeschlag"

[Medicus matt]

Do the rivets go all the way through to the back of the sheath or just through the first layer of leather?

The two down where the sheath widens go through all layers, the one at the top only through the upper layer (to state the obvious ;-) ) )

:lol:

I didn't even notice the top one.

So, what's on the back, another plate or just washers?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I understand they are found in quite a wide context over several hundred years of provinence.
Quite a few examples.

The Roman ones styled like that only start from the end of the 2nd century and seem to have been most popular in the 3rd IIRC (cf. the source jvrjenius cited above). I think there are more than 200 finds of such metall fittings by now.

Yes, I guess 2 hundred years is hard to describe as several hundred.
I was of the understanding they were found from the late second almost to the end of the Western Roman period.

[Martin Moser]

So, what's on the back, another plate or just washers?

Where the rivets are, nothing at all. I used rather hard leather, prepared the rivet head before insertion and then riveted it fast from the front side. The metal rim that is part of the fitting and kind of wraps around the sheath of course helps to stabilize the whole construction.

[Medicus matt]

Thanks Martin.

And that's as per the finds is it? Odd, you'd think it'd make more sense to put the rivets through the back part of the plate.

[Martin Moser]

And that's as per the finds is it? Odd, you'd think it'd make more sense to put the rivets through the back part of the plate.

Yes, the fitting has no rivet holes on the back side, or in other words, the rivet holes on the front are situated so that they miss the semicircular narrow plate of the backside. There may of course have been a separate backplate, but since the fitting only has been found we can only speculate on this.

[jvrjenivs]

I also finally gave such a thing a go. And just finished the raw piece:

[sulla felix]

Very nice work Jurjen!