Comparing Xena swords

Xena swords are always important pieces of my collection. In this case, I wanted to take a few photos of my screenused metal retractable sword used by Lucy Lawless during the last episodes from the series and my newly acquisition, the Creation Entertainment Xena sword replica forged by the prop masters from the series. 

So we can admit these swords were made from the same mold. The handle, guard and pommel seem to be the same shape, however the blades are different because of the screenused sword can retracts and after the blade is inserted inside the sword when it's leaning on something, it has a "spring" mechanism that allows the blade to return to the initial position. Also, it doesn't have battle marks on it. On the other hand, the Creation Ent replica has the original battle worn blade, is stunning.

The main difference is the painting techniques used in both swords. The screenused has a orange-gold tone in the guard and pommel with some green paint to add an aged oxide effect and the Creation Ent sword was painted in a light gold tone and added an aged bass and some green paint in some cases.

Well, another differences the paua shells inlay. The screenused sword used a very high quality genuine paua from New Zealand with a green and blue intense colors. And the Creation Ent replica has a high quality paua shells with brilliant colors in some cases but some replicas came with opal shells instead.

The pommel from both swords has the same shape, however, the concho over the pommel from the screenused sword has the geometrical forms a bit blurred, probably due to normal deterioration of the mold and the appearance of some bubbles in the cast process. The Creation Ent replica concho from the pommel is in perfect shape, because this concho wasn't cast with the rest of the sword, it was attached to the metal sword after.

Blades close-up photo.