[Lin Robinson]

I have a question.

This past weekend, at a Celtic Festival, I got into a rather heated discussion with a gent from Australia who, while looking at a Hanwei basket hilt I had, proceeded to tell his family all about Andrea Ferrara and how he made the blades for most of the basket hilts found in Scotland. I tried to explain: 1. that Andrea Ferrara is more likely to be a trademark than an actual maker's mark on these swords; 2. that Ferrara apparently lived in the 16th c. and most tales about him coming to Scotland after killing an apprentice, etc. are just that, tales; 3. that most blades found on basket hilts were from Solingen, Passau, Flanders, etc. All this was to no avail but he did tell me something that I vaguely remembered hearing, i.e. that there is a basket hilt hanging in some castle in Scotland which is marked Andrea Ferrara and which is equipped with a cut down blade from a two-hander. He also told his kids that most basket hilts were equipped with cut-down two handed blades, but by that time I had moved on to something else..

Does anyone know where the sword in question might be?

Thanks in advance for any assitance you can provide.

[Lin Robinson]

Thought I would give this a bump in case the member who knows all about this sword just missed the post. If nobody responds then I will let it die and assume, 1. that my memory about the sword is faulty and/or 2. that the gentleman did not know what he was talking about.

[Jonathan Hopkins]

Lin,
I don't know about the sword in question, but perhaps the Baron of Earlshall could be of assistance?

http://www.thescottishbaskethiltedsword.co.uk/html/contact.html

It was good of you to try to correct the man. People will believe what they want to believe regardless of reality. I was at an antiques show a few weeks ago and a dealer had a few swords. He told me all about them and not a word of it was true. I wasn't sure if he was lying or horribly, horribly misinformed. I didn't even try to correct him, although I probably should have.

Jonathan

[Richard Hare]

Lin,

I don't know which specific sword the man was referring to, but Blair Atholle castle has a very large showing of basket-hilted broadswords, and all the ones I looked at were marked Andrea Ferrara.

Yes, I believe you are correct re. Ferrara being a 16th C swordsmith, and in a little booklet called "The Scottish Armoury" (I Think!!) there is some debate on the subject, and weather all the later Ferrara blades were actually made in Solingen, as many have a running fox/ wolf mark as well.
I do believe a lot of two-handers were cut down when fashion changed, but not All the ones we see marked Ferrara!
I think it is more likely that Ferrara blades were Very good, so the name was used as a trademark by later makers (as you suggest), as a sign of quality.
Weather made in Italy or Germany, the ones I saw were wonderfully supple and would be excellent "slashers"

Richard.