Circa 900 -1000 AD. A very rare steel seax, formed of Damascus steel, with a straight cutting edge and sharply angle back, the tang offset from the blade. Its hilt would have been made of wood, bone or horn. The Viking seax is a very fine large fighting knife which was used by most warriors; The seax is a short sword that used distinctively during the early part the Viking era. For similar see Bonhams, lot 141, 27 November 2013. For similar but Anglo-Saxon see British Museum accession number: 1881,0623.1. For similar see: Collectanea Cantiana, London, 111-12 and pl. xxiv; 'Victoria History of the Counties of England: Kent', i, 282-2; 'British Museum: A Guide to Anglo-Saxon . . . Antiquities . . .', London, 1923, 95 f. and fig. 116; Brøndsted, J. (1924) 'Early English Ornament', London/Copenhagen, 129 and fig. 106. Size: L:364mm / W:35mm ; 177g. Provenance: From the private collection; previously was acquired from G. M. in London in 2017