I purchased this prop from Glen on the Xena Prop Treasures Facebook page in April of 2019. This is a beautiful piece that is very memorable from the Xena: Warrior Princess episode, “The Price“.
in this classic season two episode, Xena takes command of an Athenian garrison that is battling the mysterious Horde. This is an enemy that scares Xena so much she risks falling back into her old ways in order to fight them.
Axes like this were used by most members of the Horde army. The props team must have made a great number of them. There are scenes in which at least half a dozen appear on screen at one time. Lucy Lawless handled props like this as Xena, they were seen being thrown the air in attacks, and many were seen embedded in unfortunate victims.
This piece has an honoured place in my collection because “The Price” is such a terrific episode, and this is such an iconic prop from it. The design is immediately recognizable.
The axe is made of rigid foam, probably around a central metal rod. So many identical props were seen on screen, and this one has no particular identifying characteristics so it’s not possible to match it but it was purchased in the original Turner’s auction.
These axes were used again for the Horde’s second appearance in the fourth season episode, “Daughter of Pomira”.
Purple Sloth Productions 