IMy brother and me have 2 swords we know very little about. I did speak to an armory expert from the Smithsonian about the 1st sword a couple yrs back. He believed the sword dated somewhere between 1490-1550. Said the hilt was sharkskin and the origin was probably Germany. He was not able to determine the mark. Very nice fellow but he seemed to have a full workload so I didn't want to bother him again.

The 2nd sword I've researched but haven't been able to come up with much info. Any identification help would be much appreciated.


1st sword:




2nd sword:

Greetings Rex, welcome to the forums!

I'd hazard a guess that the first sword is indeed German, from about the mid 16th century and looks to be a horseman's sword (Is that a single-edged blade I see, and a thumb ring on the back of the sweep?). A really cool sword!

The second sword i have no idea, but I'd be inclined to guess it was Indonesian, or perhaps Philipino. from about late 19th, early 20th century. Anybody else care to have a go?

Christopher, thanks for the info.

The 1st sword is 47" long and is double edged but one side is only edged halfway up.

Here's a couple more pics if it helps.

Rex, I have a suggestion -
Do you have any photos of the 2nd sword, especially when it is unsheathed?

My vote on the second blade is just possibly Mexican/South American or Indonesian or Chinese(sp). Seeing the blade would help. Regarding the first sword, GEEZ your lucky whatta nice blade! I remember something about the crescent suns stamped on the blade being Eastern European ie, Polish, Hungarian ect. although you can find the mark on alot of German blades. The mark was often copied on later Sudanese Kaskara blades localy manufactured, harkening back to when European blade were used for these Sudanese swords. This mark also turns up on Indo-Persian Farangi swords, Farangi being the Indian word for foreigner (sp) refering to the fact that these swords were made using imported European blades.

Allen, some really great info on the first sword.

Here's some pics of the 2nd sword:

Something about this sword just feels South American to me, one of the simple D guard swords made for infantry use in the 18th and 19th centuries although the what is either ivory of bone handle is a little unusual. Possibly a privately commissioned sword for persoanl use in that style if i'm correct in my feeling of the swords origin.

Beautiful 16th c. German horseman's sword! There are two good examples in The Wallace Collection, but links to the WC pages don't work. You'd have to go the site and search for "swords" to find them.

Windlass made an attempt at this design, but blew the pommel (too small). Too bad, because I love these!

http://www.reliks.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=2428

Hi Rex

First swords a beauty the second isn't quiet right blade looks fine the guard seems off to me a bit to thin I could be wrong but it looks as if someone re hilted an old blade the guard just doesn't look up to the job.

I agree with Allan's assessment of the second sword. It definitely has a Latin American feel to it.

Jonathan

Yeah, when I first saw it I thought it was Mexican. But perhaps it is from further down south. I've read that the gaucho's of the Pampas sometimes carried swords.

Gauchos carrying swords, Morgan? Sounds a bit odd to me but as far as I know they fought the Spaniards using spears, knives and perhaps firearms. To Rex, this gaucho sword has a huge blade.

Beautiful Backsword!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May I ask where you aquired it? could you say how the second sword balances and where you got it it would help in determining if it was re-hilted and where it came from.

Could the 2nd sword be an Espada Ancha??

http://www.elpalacio.org/articles/espada.pdf
http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/espadaan/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/the_tarins@sbcglobal...words.html

Danny

Danny, exactly the sort of sword I was thinking of!

Another link re Espada Anchas

http://therionarms.com/articles/index.shtml

About 3/4's down the page entitled "Swords of Old Mexico"

Danny

According to the toothed crescents the first sword (and You:-) has a Genoese blade. Congrats!!!

Zoltán

Danny, great eye. The 2nd sword is most likely Mexican.

I had received it from my grandfather many years ago because of my interest in military collectibles. He was an antique auctioneer so the sword's origin was unknown. It's wonderful finally finding out some info.


Henrik, you say the 1st sword is Genoese. Could you expand on that?

Hello

Here is an exemple of a genoese blade and genoese marks.

The picture of the sabre is from a weapon-museum catalog from Eger, the marks from the book "Régi fegyverekről" ("About antient weapons"),Halmágyi-Riedel, 1986, p. 138.

Zoltán

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Hungarian karabela-type sabre with genoese blade, lenght: 880 mm, width: 32 mm., 17th Century.

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55-58: genoese master marks on italian sabre-blades from the 16-17th century.

Henrik, thank you so much.

Even the armory expert at the Smithsonian wasn't able to identify that mark.



Rex