Above is a priceless find. Oh, no, not the "rapier" in back, but the soapstone mould into which the rapier and dirks were poured. Once you have such a mould, all you need then is a supply of bronze and you have weapons. There is a legend that Peter the Great (three and a half thousand years later!) ordered his boyars to silence, and said "The next sound I hear will be the answer to where I shall get the bronze for my cannons". Into the deadly silence that followed, a churchbell rang outside the palace...and Peter realized that there was plenty of bronze about, all in the form of bells.
Which to my mind simply goes to show the value of bronze!
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