17th century repro

[Eric Fairbanks]

17th century (swept basket hilt ?) repro
Total-48 3/4
Blade-40 1/2
Ricasso-2 1/2
Hilt-8 1/8
Grip and pommel-5 1/2
Wide-1 1/8
Thick-11/32
POB-10 7/8 from tang button and 37 7/8
Seems way out of balance unless you run two fingers in front of guard, then is is easy to move. Very flexible and well made. Both swords appear forged with careful attention to detail. Were there certain makers that manufactured these wall hangers? Why go all out on making them serviceable? Very interesting niche of swords out there. I had no idea as the only ones I've held or own are stiff with heavy hilts.Someone should have told me and I would have bought one of these sooner. Any info, comments or opinions? No makers mark on either sword. Eric

[Javier Ramos]

Yes it looks XIXth century. A give away is the squarish shield piece at the cross. No idea of who could have made it. Some handle good and some others awfully. Impossible to tell before trying, but asking for the total weight could be informative as the bad ones tend to be heavier. Many have also brass hilts, something not so usual in XVIIth century.

[Eric Fairbanks]

Javier, it weighs right at 2.5 pounds and seems a tad heavy in the hand but far above most repros I run into, which are few. So the shield piece at the intersection of quillions and ricasso should be more diamond shape? The hilt style is "north european"? Not really a swept hilt more of a basket type. You and Juan have been very valuable in trying to understand early European, Islamic, Spanish, and Austrian swords. The transition from long pointed armor piercing blades to shorter stiffer blades then back up to the calvary sabres can be confusing in colonial Spanish areas. I would suppose the Spainards came over looking to fight a heavy armored opponents and wound up fighting half naked fast moving men, hence the shorter easy to carry weapons. Thanks for all your help. Eric

[Glen C.]

Hi Eric

You might enjoy this gallery and others there
http://myarmoury.com/albums/thumbnails.php?album=18

The one you show would be regarded as a three ring swept.

www.armor.com is one of the American makers these days.

Some rapier hilt swords were certainly more of the military vein with quite heavy blades. There have been a lot of discussions around the net regarding the differences between the military and civilian rapiers. 2.5 pounds is actually on the lighter side of average for a three ring.

There was one fellow, Ernst Schmidt, that created quite a lot of reproductions
http://myarmoury.com/feature_schmidt_comp.html

We see a lot of such as your piece on Ebay and they really are a niche of themselves and valued to collectors of them. I have a variety of much newer stuff but the 19th century swords are often quite nice.

Cheers

Hotspur; rapiers are a lot of fun and always somewhere on my lists

[Eric Fairbanks]

Thanks Glenn, they are beautiful swords and I am acquiring a taste for them. My original intent was to understand Spanish Colonial swords better. Eric