The Royal Armouries Expands Replica Swords Range

The Royal Armouries has announced a collaboration with Windlass Steelcrafts to create faithful display replicas of swords in the museum's collection, first launched in late 2022. With such attention to detail to their historic originals, the range has proved popular with collectors and enthusiasts worldwide. Building on this success, six new reproductions from the Royal Armouries’ extensive historic collection have been created, offering customers further variety in form as well as chronological and geographical spread. 

Iason Tzouriadis, curator, European Edged Weapons and Scot Hurst, assistant curator of arms and armour, The Royal Armouries Museum, played pivotal roles in ensuring the new reproductions closely match their historic counterparts.

“Our involvement included advising on object selection for this second range, inspecting production copies alongside the originals at various stages and providing feedback to refine their physical attributes,” says Tzouriadis. “To ensure accuracy, we closely examined the original objects, studied their details, materials, and construction, and reviewed all available documentation from our catalogues and files.”

Renowned historical weapons expert and host of the Schola Gladiatoria YouTube channel, Matt Easton, supported Windlass as a consultant on the project, conducting detailed research visits to the Royal Armouries stores to study the originals.

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“For years, I wanted to see truly accurate replicas of treasures from the Royal Armouries made available to the public,” says Easton. “You can view objects in cabinets or photographs, but to truly understand them, you must hold, balance, and move them. With meticulous study and a long refinement process, we’ve created the most accurate replicas of these weapons ever made.”

“Through our innovative licensing partnership with Windlass, we have a rare opportunity to recreate historic artefacts, show how they would have appeared when first crafted hundreds of years ago and provide history enthusiasts an opportunity to own and display these exceptional pieces,” says Jack Wanstall, senior licensing manager, The Royal Armouries.