3rd century AD. A double-edged spatha of Lauriacum Hromówka typology; the blade with four blood channels running along the majority of its length, parallel cutting edges tapering towards the triangular point. See Biborski, M., ‘Miecze z okresu wp?ywów rzymskich na obszarze kultury przeworskiej’, in Materia?y Archeologiczne XVIII, 1978, pp.53-165; Czarnecka, K., ‘Two newly-found Roman swords from the Przeworsk culture cemetery in Oblin, Siedlce District, Poland’ in JRMES 3,1992, pp.41-56; Bishop, M. C. & Coulston, J.C.N., Roman military equipment, from the Punic wars to the fall of Rome, London, 1993; Biborski, M., ‘Römische Schwerter im Gebiet des europäischen Barbaricum’, in JRMES 5, 1994, pp.169-198; Biborski, M. & Ilkjar J., Illerup Ådal 12. Die Schwerter. 1. Textband. 2. Tafeln und Fundlisten, Moesgard, 2006; Miks, C., Studien zur Romischen Schwertbewaffnung in der Kaiserzeit, I-II Banden, Rahden, 2007; Guillaud I., Militaria à Lugdunum: étude de l’armement et de l’équipement militaire d’époque romaine à Lyon (1er s. av.-IVe s. apr. J.-C.), Archéologie et Préhistoire, Lyon, 2017; for very similar specimens see Miks, 2007, nos.A146, 2, 8, 15, 17, 23, 24, 31, 41, pls.73,88; A676, pl.104; A796, 4, pl.116. 915 grams, 79cm long (31"). From the late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister; from her collection formed early 1960s-1990s. A wide range of spathae have been found dating from the late 2nd to the late 4th century AD. There are today several hundred attested Roman longswords scattered throughout Europe. Specimens of Roman spathae of the 2nd and 3rd centuries have been found in large numbers in the Danish bogs (Nydam, Straubing, Thorsberg, Illerup"). These swords show a great deal of variability, in terms of shape and dimensions; today a typological framework is well-established, thanks to the work of academics including Ulbert, Biborski and Miks. This particular type is the Lauriacum-Hromówka of which more than thirty specimens have been found in Poland.