The Beardmore Relics: When?

WHEN were the relics made?

There is no reason to doubt that the three objects - the sword, the axe, and the iron bar (whatever it might be) - are genuine.  Their ages, however, apparently differ.  Dr. Johannes Brondsted, former director of the National Museum of Copenhagen, has suggested that the sword is an East Norwegian type made between the years 850 and 950 - 1025.  In a letter to the Museum he added, "This combination: this sword together with this axe is unusual but not at all impossible. This Beardmore Viking has had his own axe and his father's sword!"

The Beardmore sword, corroded by centuries - a tantalizing mystery.
How did it reach northern Ontario?
 Did some long-dead Viking carry it on an expedition from Hudson's Bay? 
Or was it brought from Norway in modern times and used deliberately in a hoax?
In this photograph, three small fragments
which seem to be part of the sword have been placed where they possibly fitted,
though their original position is unknown.
 The saw cuts into the blade were made to obtain samples for metallurgical analysis.

Reprinted from A.D. Tushingham's The Beardmore Relics: Hoax or History ,  ROM 1966, with permission Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum August 31, 2011