The Harriet Dean Sword

This 600-year-old Italian broadsword (Oakeshott Type XVIIIC) came out of the armory at Alexandria, having been made as a diplomatic gift from the king of Cyprus to the Mamluke Sultan of Egypt in 1419. It became part of the collection of the renowned arms historian Bashford Dean (1867-1928) and was left by him to his sister Harriet Martine Dean. Harriet died in 1943 and the sword was sold into an unknown private collection from which it recently emerged.

Nerdlist article

The sword sold last December 17 for 386,500 pounds (529,923 Euros — roughly $550,310).

Christie’s Howard Dixon discusses the sword’s consignment and identification.