XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: tkoenig@netcologne.de   
      
   Taemon  schrieb:   
      
   > Well, there is such a thing as red gold... Hey, look what I saw on   
   > Wikipedia: "During ancient times, due to impurities in the smelting process,   
   > gold frequently turned a reddish color. This is why many Greco-Roman texts,   
   > and even many texts from the Middle Ages, describe gold as "red".[citation   
   > needed]"   
      
   So, the swords in question were made from gold.  I don't know of any other   
   gold swords except in Minecraft, but even those don't last very long.   
      
   No wonder the petty kindoms fell, if this was their dominant weapons   
   technology.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)