hi. this sword was found in belize, i think in a cave. belize was once inhabited by spain, and then became a british colony. any ideas???

It looks like a form of cut and thrust sword, or else an early form of rapier.

Edit: In case you need more info: http://www.thearma.org/terms4.htm

My guess would be a smallsword missing the guard, grip, and pummel.

It could be an officer's side sword; I'd say early- to mid-18th C. If I'm looking at the profile taper correctly, perhaps it's a predecessor to the later cavalry swords (like the ones used during the American Civil War).

Can't add much myself but some idea of scale / length might help narrowing things down from small sword or rapier.

It has the shape of a late 17th century duelling rapier, minus the shell guard. If the blade is light and the overall length is around 42 inches, that is probably what it is.

My impression of this sword is early rapier as well. I think it would be a real stretch to place it as late as the 18th century, indeed even the late 17th century.

There are the wonderful picture albums here and the rapier album is no exception.

http://www.myArmoury.com/albums/thumbnails.ph...amp;page=1

What was interesting to me today, while going through it, was the number of mid 16th century swords that share attibutes of the sword Antonio has posted about. I got a bit of a tickle getting to page 17 and seeing a sword listed as a Venetian sidesword from the early part of the 16th century. I had earlier run across this from the Del Tin website.

http://www.deltin.net/5164hi.jpg

On Antonio's example, I don't really think much is missing from the guard. Any shell, or plate, would have been beyond the rings. Their construct and form would seem to preclude that.

Is anyone else thinking German made and adopted by a Spaniard? That's kind of my take on it at this point but I would definitely place it 16th century and earlier than later. Hence my original thought at SFI as it being mid 16th century.

Cheers

GC

the length is 33 inches or about 88 centimeters.
so the concensus here is that it rabges from the mid sixteenth thru the 17th century??

If you could snap a photo of the guard area so we can see if it is complete or missing something, that would go a long way in identifying this piece. 33 inches is quite short for a duelling rapier, even if you add 2 inches for the pommel. It is possible that part of the tip is missing though. Anyway, I would like to see more detail of the guard area.

i dont wanna sound like a complete retard, but what exactly is the guard?

You might want to look at this sword on ebay. The guard looks quite similar to what you have.
http://cgi.ebay.com/EARLY-FRENCH-EPEE-RAPIER-...dZViewItem

Don

thanks very much. it does look similar to the one i have.