Walter Allan of Stirling Baskethilt Broadsword, c. 1735-60

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(SW 37) Overall length - 37 1/4", Blade length - 31 1/4" , Blade width - 1 5/8", Weight -3 lb. 1-1/2 oz.


Broadsword with open-work basket hilt of rare and exceptionally fine design and execution, signed on the underside of the quillon WA over S (Walter Allan, Stirling). The front of the basket is formed of a square panel filled in with Scottish thistle displayed and crowned. Each member is engraved down the centre with a 'wiggle' line. The blade is double edged with a short narrowed recasso and is channelled with a short, broad, central hollow and a narrow flute on either side. It bears in Spanish lettering the Latin inscription, on one side reads -- PARCERE SUBIECTIS,the other side ET DEBELARE SUPERBOS, which translated reads -- 'spare the vanquished and crush the proud.'
Total length, without the button, 36 7/8" inches. Blade, 31 1/8" inches by 1 5/8".
-- Scottish Military and Naval Museum, Edinburgh Castle (N.R. Colville Collection).

* Text - Charles Whitelaw 'Scottish Arms Makers' ,Plate IV,Fig. 5-6
* Photo 1 (color) - Vince Evans
* Photo 2 (front view of basket) - John Wallace 'Scottish Swords & Dirks'

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Lovely piece.

Mac - could you enlighten us (or at least me) on the source of the SW reference numbers? I saw the earlier SW 11 thread. Also see several SW numbers referenced on the Mad Piper site. And where might those interested go to study further?

Thanks,

Steve Grisetti

Oh wow, I don't think I've seen these two photos together before. I'm almost positive I've seen the side view, and certainly have seen the "forward" view, but I never realized these two were of the same sword!

I really like this basket. It's much more graceful than I had originally thought.

"spare the vanquished and crush the proud" -- haha!

Hi Steve

In John Wallace's book, Scottish Swords & Dirks (1970), he writes :
"Except were noted in the captions, the photographs used are objects either in the permanent collection at the N.M.A.S.
(National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland), with numbers prefixed by LA, LB, or LC, or in the Colville Collection deposited there on loan, with numbers prefixed by DK or SW."

So the SW just indicates that it belongs to Colville Collection, on loan ! Mac

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*Photo: 'Scottish Arms Makers', Plate IV, Fig. 6.

Arms and armour
The distinctive types of swords, daggers, firearms, powder horns and targes made in Scotland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are well represented, along with surviving medieval pieces and a collection of later sporting firearms. There is a particularly good collection of Highland dirks. Apart from the Seafield Collection (1977), major components are the collections made by Charles Whitelaw (1940) and N Colville (1949). Around 100 weapons are currently on loan to the National Trust for Scotland's Battle of Culloden Visitor Centre.
There is also a collection of instruments of torture.
http://www.nms.ac.uk/home/index.asp?m=4&s=1&ss=3.11

Thanks, Mac. It would be great when/if National Museum of Scotland gets an online picture gallery. I think there might be a lot of interest from this community. And the instruments of torture would be just the thing for the little kiddies... :eek:

I edited in the weight on this piece, as Vince Evans had kindly supplied me with it !
It weighs in at ... 3 lb. 1-1/2 oz.

Mac

hey thomas what do you think that "lightning" type of decoration on the front of the basket signifies? it seems veyr unusual. It's the sharp back-and-forth things i'm talking about