The Ulen Sword is a purported Viking sword found in a field 3 1⁄4 miles west of Ulen, Minnesota, where it is currently on display in the Ulen Historical Museum. However, it bears no resemblance to any sword of known early Medieval provenance and is almost certainly a 19th-century French military sword.
The sword was found buried underground by Hans O. Hansen on his farm on April 20, 1911. Because of drought, Hansen decided to set his plow blades much deeper than usual, and unearthed the artifact.
The blade of the Ulen sword is said to have had a 1⁄16-inch covering of rust, which Hansen polished away. The blade is 16 inches (410 mm) long (the end of the sword has been blunted by a hammer or some other instrument). The pommel and the thick crossguard are made of brass.
The sword's crossguard has a design on each side: one side depicts a helmeted soldier, and the reverse is a breastplate covering a dagger and two crossed axes.
Famous quotes containing the word sword:
“Once the good man was dead, one wore his hat and another his sword as he had worn them, a third had himself barbered as he had, a fourth walked as he did, but the honest man that he was—nobody any longer wanted to be that.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)