Definitely here is a unique piece of television history from the Xena: Warrior Princess series. Xena’s hero metal screen used sword, used by Lucy Lawless circa end of season 1 and 2. The prop masters decided that after the first appearances of Xena with her old sword during the first episodes, the evolution of the character needs to be reflected in a changeover to the new sword.
The first Xena’s hero swords were electroplated for lightweight close-up shots before the prop masters of the series started making the aluminum ones during season 3. The sword is quite heavy too. Before I knew how is the electroplated process, I thought it was a kind of painting technique, but my surprise was when I had it on my hands, I realize that there is a metal layer all around the sword that gives a real metallic shine, just because it is metal indeed. The aged green rust patina over the cross-guard and pommel reveals that it is an early production sword as we have seen in season 1 and 2, they used the golden orange painting later on.
Also, the blade doesn’t look quite battle worn as the last seasons sword design, that makes this sword quite rare and unique. It has slight damage to the electroplated blade on its edge from fighting contact. However, after almost 30 years, the sword is still in great condition.
All paua shells are intact and in the right place. I always loved the paua shells colors, in this case all are mostly green and blue. Maybe the blue ones in the cross guard were chosen specifically to match with Lucy’s eyes.
