Thi Higgins armory was an amazing museum where a 19th century steel industrialist (Higgins) built an amazing collection of arms and armor from the middle ages. The Worcester Art Museum inherited a lot of this collection. And they have it on display.

Gold Let's take a look at some of the swords they have on exhibtion. Some of them are very traditional and some of them are extemely unique! Where I could dig up information I tell you about the sword.

On my visit to the exhibition I took a lot of pictures and videos. I got information about a lot of the artifacts they have on display. But, with this first sword I got a picture but failed to get any information about it! Sorry! It is such a unique sword and probably had a very specific purpose. Maybe it was ceremonial. I am not sure.

There is something really beautiful about the shape and look of a flamberge - It might be my favorite type of blade. And they have this pristine example at the museum.

The flame blade also holds a special place in my reading history. When I was a teenager I read a whole of of the science fiction classics. And I made a small adveture into fantasy by reading Heinlein's "Glory Road" which is a pure swords and sorcery adventure novel. And I was hooked! I made the switch from science fiction to fantasy. What followed was a deep dive into everthing fantasy including of course Tolkien and Robert E. Howard. Anyway, I remember well a novella by Howard entitled "The Flame Knife". It was my introduction to the flamberge.

Here is a pair of rare gauntlet swords. They are absolutely unique and peculiar. The are the one on the left and the center.
One has to wonder how effective they were in actual combat. It seems to me that you are restraining your hand and your range of motion quite a bit.
But who am I to say? I never actually wielded one in combat. These come out of India and their Indian name is "Pata".