I figured this might interest you guys too:

"From at least as far back as the early to mid 1400s, all the way up until about the French Revolution in 1789, longsword fencers have been practicing with fechtschwerte, or what is today commonly called federschwert, a specific sword type with a flared schildt and blunt edges, used specifically for training.

However, only 14-15 are known to be preserved in various collections and for this very reason, we would like to ask for your help in locating more of these swords! We need to pool and organize our resources so we can contact as many museums and collections as possible."

http://www.hroarr.com/a-call-to-arms

Not quite sure why this was moved. The topic is research of a specific sword type. Does it really not fit in under "Historical Arms Talk"?

Perhaps I should be clearer: I am asking for assistance in researching and finding and sharing more info about the training longswords called fechtschwerte. So please share if you have detailed info about the swords described in the article, or if you know of other swords not included.

Just a tiny update. We now have reports of at least 17 preserved fechtschwerte with a handful more to likely exist, based on reports, in collections we are now contacting. We also have about 10 people actively searching for more swords and more data coming in constantly.

Let me know if you too have anything to share. :)

I just found your name in H.R.O.A.R.R.'s website, Roger.
I have 1 question - Do the three museums in your country listed in that site have federschwerte?

Hi!
Nope, only the ones marked with green are confirmed to have preserved fechtschwerte. The blue ones are thought to have some and those that are black are ones that we don't know at all and that we need to contact. However, we need to do that in ordered fashion so we don't all bunch up and contact the same collections. So I suggest that people take responsibility for their own country and coordinate their work together with other people in their country. I can assist and have already done so to some degree for Switzerland, where we have three really good guys working already.