#tusk sword

[azvolrien]

Gonna round things off with my personal highlight of the museum, the near-complete set of incredibly rare Indian elephant armour. It’s missing two panels on the right, but it’s still easy to imagine how terrifying it would’ve been to face a line of these in battle, especially if they were equipped with tusk swords.

Tusk swords are also very rare, with only a few surviving pairs worldwide. Most of them are of a fairly lightweight construction and were likely used more for parade occasions than active combat; the Royal Armouries’ pair is very robust, but I have no idea if they were ever used in battle.

Plus bonus ankus:

[armthearmour]

An Elephant Tusk Sword, Indian, ca. 15th-17th century, hoses at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These were mounted on the ends of elephant's tusks to increase their effectiveness in combat.