I don't think aggressive. Personally I thought that was a very polite, considered and generous response from a guy who knows his onions. (English colloquialism).

Rapiers are very much not my thing, but I am basically with Hadrian in that the blade looks better than the hilt, so dig deeper.

Tod

Hi tod. Will do , how did you feel about the same S hilt from Yorkshire in the f wilkinson book photo . Thanks Gary

Ok, so this is only going to complicate matters.....here are pictures of an extremely similar rapier in a very different condition. Hilt is identical(?), but unbroken. Pommel and grip and blade are different.

I pulled these off an auction site an pinned them on pinterest, but unfortunately the links they originated from are now dead, and I can't remember what the site was....it wasn't one of the big houses.

Soo, anyone else see this and remember where it was from? A google image search hasn't turned up anything. Links originally came from a cdn.shopify.com related address.

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Hmm, to see two identical hilts on two different rapiers (and a third one almost identical, except the quillons and knuckle guard) is a bad sign to me. Hadrian's theory about a 19th century hilt seems more and more plausible imo - that would be consistent with the weird hilt style.

That would not be the first time that an historical blade/pommel set would be assembled with a 19th century restoration, alas. David Edge of the Wallace Collection told me that it has been made on several pieces of their collection (often the grip, seldom on hilts).