Albion Swords is a company based in New Glarus, Wisconsin

New Glarus, Wisconsin

New Glarus is a village in Green County, Wisconsin, United States at the intersection of Wisconsin Highways 69 and 39. It has a population of 2,304 according to the 2010 census. Since 2000 it has had a population growth of 9.09 percent. The village, as well as the town that surrounds it, was named...

 manufacturing European sword replicas. The company was started in Washington D.C. by Howard and Amy Waddell in 1998.

Products

Albion has several different product lines that vary widely in price. Their most expensive "Museum Line" consists of swords that have been recreated from existing museum pieces. Their "Next Generation" line is the largest and most fully featured line. The lowest-end is the "Squire Line" and the "Maestro Line," which is a series of sparring

Sparring

Sparring is a form of training common to many martial arts. Although the precise form varies, it is essentially relatively 'free-form' fighting, with enough rules, customs, or agreements to make injuries unlikely...

 swords intended for practitioners of historical European martial arts

Historical European martial arts

Historical European martial arts is a neologism describing martial arts of European origin, used particularly to refer to arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms...

.

In 2001, Albion Swords hired Bladesmith

Bladesmith

Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking techniques similar to those used by blacksmiths, as well as woodworking for knife and sword handles, and often...

 and custom Knifemaker Jody Samson

Jody Samson

Jody Samson was a knifemaker and bladesmith from Burbank, California who designed butterfly knives for Benchmade and the swords used in such movies as Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, First Knight, The Mask of Zorro, Blade, Blind Fury, Batman & Robin, Batman Forever, and Streets of...

 to reproduce collector versions of the swords he designed for the Conan the Barbarian, films. Samson worked at Albion until his death in 2008.