I have an interesting and what I believe to be a Spanish rapier here that I would like to narrow down the approximate date on. Here are some photos:

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I swear I have seen this weapon in a painting, but I cannot remember where, or by whom. It may be one of the ones referenced by Norman, but I have not been able to locate all of them as of yet.

Norman does show this pommel to be a type #47, 1545-1640. It is very distinctive. On page 55 he describes the dating of this type of pommel and the piercings of the quillons. Although he does not have actual drawings of this particular guard, he does reference some paintings I have yet to locate.

There are a few very similar rapiers shown under the album section here on this site, but there is no information describing them. Below is one example of the images I found here.

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Thanks for your help,

Dave

Dave,

I'm a little confused, you've posted images of two different rapiers, on has guards on either side of the blade, one only on one, which is it you're asking about?

Martin,

Above the last picture I wrote: "There are a few very similar rapiers shown under the album section here on this site, but there is no information describing them." That last picture was taken from one of these Armoury albums:

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/index.php?cat=5

I posted it to show an example of what I did find here that was similar, but not exactly the same. The top three photos are of the same weapon, mine. I'll modify my first post to clarify things a bit better.



Dave

wow that's a nice blade!
how long is it?
do you think it's been cleaned?
and, how heavy is it?

cheers for the pics, adam

Hello Dave, I've taken a look at the rapier and I would say it is victorian. Its possible that it could be from the early 17th century but it is equally possible that it is a victorian made copy of a 17th century sword. I would be sure until I've seen it in person. By the way, did you purchase this sword from the ebay seller militarybargains-uk? I am familair with this seller if you would like to pm me.

Don

It is about 46 inches long and I am not sure of the weight. I am away from home and will not be back for a few weeks.

I would like to think it is not a copy, but if a copy can be this good that it can be so hard to tell, I don't see too much of a difference., at least for me. I am not into collecting antiques as much as I am interested in the quality of the weapons themselves. Modern day replicas can be pretty decent at times, but in general I find them quite lacking when compared to originals. Some just don't feel right. It is very rare to have the blades correct, especially when they are more complex, or should be.