Posts: 12 Location: N.E. USA
Sat 25 Apr, 2009 5:36 am
Identify this sword
Hi-
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joseph P. Timperio. This is my sword. It was my Great Grandfather's sword; He was in the Italian Infantry. I have been handling, collecting, and wielding swords for over twenty years. Mr Butler and I have been exchanging e-mails furiously about this sword. The earlier poster had mentioned a
shield with 'A Z' inside ; he was comparing this sword with a Prussian Infantry Sword. I can assure you, there is no shield mark, no, AZ.
I would now humbly request Mr. Butler upload his photo of his Spadroon. I will then post more photos of my sword. I don't disagree that the sword was made in Germany; that is plain enough. But it would certainly be plausible for a wealthy Italian Officer (of whatever era) to purchase a blade, hilt, handle, pommel, or scabbard from Solingen. It is not uncommon for a servicable blade to be refit with a new handle, or vice-versa. J. Cristoph Amberger posted a sword on his blog that supports this contention. But if you compare my sword with Mr. Butler's, they are quite similar. Mr.Butler related to me that the makers marks on his sword are somewhat spurious (my word), one letter, either an S or G. But if Mr. Butler is placing his sword in the 1790's, to professionally categorize the date and manufacture, I don't believe there is sufficient evidence.
I have sifted through many website's photos of Prussian Officer's Swords and they look nothing like mine. Moreover, I have looked at hundreds of photos and looked at swords in person that were categorized as spadroons that look nothing like Mr. Butler's sword. And there you have the basis of our conundrum...