The following tasks were set and fulfilled: the selection of samples of bladed cold weapons presented in Ukrainian museums and private collections, which belong to certain historical periods and have different purposes, was substantiated; the necessary and sufficient set of criteria and quality indicators for establishing authenticity and forecasting the value of bladed cold weapons is proposed; criteria for identification and establishment of a reference type of bladed cold weapon based on its morphometric parameters and Russell-Rao affinity indicators are determined. To fulfill the tasks, a method was developed for determining the chemical composition of the surface of bladed cold weapons in relation to their authenticity and age; the effect of thermal treatment of cold weapons on the chemical composition of its surface and the process of natural self-cleaning of bladed cold weapons was also revealed; a regulation has been developed for the commodity examination of edged cold weapons to establish their authenticity; a mathematical model for forecasting the cost of bladed cold weapons was developed, in particular to determine the damage caused to the museum fund of Ukraine as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation; the results of the research were implemented in the practice of conducting commercial forensic examinations and professional assessment activities.
In the course of carrying out the assigned tasks, the trends and problems related to the development of commodity expert examination of cold weapons in Ukraine and the world were investigated. The regularities of pricing of historical bladed melee weapons and the peculiarities of their implementation have been studied, a mathematical model has been built, which allows for reasonable forecasting of the value based on the accounting of useful information about it - information about its age, method of manufacture, involvement in historical events, state of preservation, etc. The results of this work will be useful for the commercial assessment of the level of damage to national and world culture caused by military actions, as well as for determining the accounting value and insurance amounts.
The paper describes the results of research into the chemical composition of the surface of bladed cold weapons obtained on the basis of standard research methods: organoleptic, morphometric, X-ray fluorescence analysis, emission analysis using an electron microscope, and mathematical modeling methods. The research methods developed by the author were also used, namely: the method of establishing the authenticity of bladed cold weapons using the results of research on the chemical composition of the eliminated impurity elements on the surface of bladed cold weapons. The author presented and improved the method of forecasting the cost of cold weapons based on the regression analysis of data of statistical indicators of the open market. The author's development is of particular relevance for the development of the expert case, the fight against the falsification of historical artifacts and the forecasting of the losses caused to the national culture as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
The subject of the study is the criteria, quality indicators, authenticity and cost of bladed cold weapons.
To fulfill the task, the author used a complex approach to solving the most urgent issues of commodity examination, based on the use of well-attributed reference samples of cold weapons, which are stored in museum collections of various forms of ownership. It involves a combination of traditional methods of scientific attribution and the results of applying the author's method of analytical confirmation of authenticity.
Samples of cold weapons from the collections of the National Military-Historical Museum of Ukraine, private collections and funds of state and non-state forms of ownership were involved for research.
