On November 29, 1943, a remarkable event took place in the Russian embassy in Tehran, where Allied leaders Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin held consultations (the Tehran Conference). During a special ceremony, Churchill presented Stalin with a beautiful ceremonial longsword as a tribute from King George VI and the British people to the Russians who had defended Stalingrad at enormous sacrifice in the battle for the city, which lasted from August 1943 to February 1943. Gotscha Lagidse recently completed a faithful reconstruction of this special sword.
Creation of the original
The idea for a precious gift in the form of a unique sword came from King George VI and Prime Minister Churchill. The latter wanted to show, in the context of Allied cooperation against Germany, how much importance Great Britain attached to the Battle of Stalingrad. The creation of the sword did not happen overnight. From the first designs through to production, the work took three months of intensive work by Britain's leading craftsmen using the finest materials. The end product was a two-handed, double-edged longsword with an overall length of four feet that is second to none. The blade has an inscription on both sides (on one side in English and on the other in Russian), the translation of which reads: “TO THE CITIZENS WITH STEEL HEARTS OF STALINGRAD • THE GIFT OF KING GEORGE VI • AS SIGN OF TRIBUTE FROM THE BRITISH PEOPLE”. Due to its background, this sword has become known as the “Sword of Stalingrad”. The original now is in the Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad in Volgograd (as the city has been called since 1961).
Reconstruction history.
The special background and beauty of the Honor Sword also kalled “Sword of Stalingrad” inspired well known metal artist and craftsman/specialist in the field of historical weapons Gotscha Lagidse Studio from Netherlands to make a faithful reconstruction at the end of 2019. He completed this in September 2023. Gotscha worked on it intermittently with great craftsmanship for about four years. The result is therefore not inferior to the original. The dimensions have been copied exactly and the original materials have been used as much as possible. Like the original, the reconstruction has a solid silver crossguard of 25 cm length, the gilded ends of which are shaped like a leopard's head. The handle was wrapped with 24 carat gold-plated wire and fitted with a hand-cut quartz pommel with a gilded silver Tudor rose at the bottom. The double-edged blade of 91 cm in length has a lens-shaped cross-section and is hand-forged from special type steel. After finishing, the original inscription was painstakingly applied. The sheath consists of magnolia wood that is covered with special red lamb leather. It has decorations in the shape of the royal coat of arms of Great Britain, the crown and monogram of George VI in gilt silver, as well as five silver frames and five silver stars topped with artificial rubies. A total of 1850 grams of sterling silver has been incorporated into the sword and scabbard.
One of a kind historical item is a worthy decoration of a collection of edged weapons!
Price and exta photos/links on request