This page was updated 30 June 2010

Inquiries about this sword should refer to the  Gold Nadziak

stag@southtower.on.ca or phone 613-821-1846

The Nadziak

This is the work of Tom Kaczor

The above picture shows how magnificently HUGE this axe is.
(The sword in the picture was sold within 2 days of being put up on these pages so I only included it to provide scale.)

Now that we see how big this fellow is, lets look at some close ups. 
As usual, click on the images to see them full size.

Tom's Nadziak is made from solid brass, hafted onto a maple shaft.  Above and below
the head are metal ferulles which back up and strengthen the shaft at a point of great stress.

Tom has polished and chiseled this nadziak, and has guilded it to give it a little more shine. 
Below, you can see a close up of the handle end, the spiral roses have been repousse'd into the brass
before mounting it on the handle.  The workmanship on this weapon is equal to the work which would have gone into a weapon
 which would be presented to a prince, and is better than any surviving Nadziak in the world's museums today.
Better because it is prettier, better because it is better made, and better because you could use this on a real
 battlefield, this is not just a "sword like object".

War Hammers of this (and other types) are much more common in Poland and Slavic
countries than they are in France, Germany, or England.
 Mieczyslaw Paszkiewicz's awesome essay will get you started on researching this not so common weapon.
Here is a selection from his essay.
  Nadziak. This was by far the most popular of the three types:
(the other types being a Czekan, an axe-hammer combination,
and the Obuch, which is more of a walking stick than a true weapon.)

 the name is directly borrowed from the Turkish, despite its apparent, misleading
"Polish" clang: the verb "nadziać" means "pierce with something . . .".
 Its hammer-head (usually with a square, but sometimes with an hexagonal face)
which has a moulded neck, narrower towards the centre of the weapon, is balanced
on the other side by a slightly drooping beak, usually long, often fluted,
as in the example No. A 977 in the Wallace Collection .
But there exists another type, less common, in which the hammer-neck and the beak form
almost a straight line, of more or less equal thickness.
The beak is shorter and its point is formed by cutting off the top side at an angle.
An example from the National Museum in Cracow represents this group well.
The "nadziak" of Rembrandt's Polish Rider belongs to this category.

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