[Allan Senefelder]

Just thought we'd post some pics of a couple of new toys. The pauldron lames dtae from the second quarter of the 16th century. The beveled edge of the second plate overlapping the lower to creat a better angle of deflection is visible in the pic. The sword is typical of infantry cutting swords of the late 16th and 17th centuries. There are numerous parrying marks on the both flats of the blade and the basket.

[Steve Grisetti]

Neat stuff, Allan. Can you give us any stats on the sword?

Oh, also - what are the materials. My first thought was that the hilt components were bronze or brass, but then noticed that the blade has a similar coloration, so maybe I am just seeing patination and/or lighting effects?

[Allan Senefelder]

Steve the blade is 27 3/4" long. the blade is steel and the hilt iron. The grip wrap remain mostly intact although the seam is bgining seperate and is worn away in several spots. It feels like a dream in hand ,is still plenty sharp and is beging to be cut with even at 350-400 years old.

[Allan Senefelder]

Something new that Jason just picked up, this nasty little implement has been sitting in a barn for several centuries i'm guessing. There is a small piece of the original shaft inside the socket and its full of worm holes which is typical of a dry neglect enviornment . Additionally while it has a rich chocolate patination throughout it isn't really pitted at all which lends itself to the barn found origin. The short langets have been forge welded to the socket and the tines on either side show hammer work from being straightened. Late 16th-17th centuries.

[David R. Glier]

beautiful!

[Sean Flynt]

That hanger looks not-quite-right to me, somehow. Weird pommel with what look to be random dents from a ball peen hammer. Leather wrap seems roughened as from an abrasive rather than worn thin and shiny from use. Tang button looks awfully familiar to me, too, and not in a good way (see below). The finish of all the components doesn't look right--superficial. Are you confident about the seller?

[Allan Senefelder]

We've bought repeatedly from this fellow. He knows nothing about this stuff as he got left it froma dead uncle and it appears his uncle was no expert either(the items are somewhat hit and miss and the seller freely admits to his complete lack of knowledge on this material) but a fair percentage of this collection is original in nauture. We had the luxury of having Chris Poor look at the other two items we picked up from him back in October at the AEMMA conference and Chris felt them to be original. This piece is of the same character as our other two pieces from the seller and exhibits something Chris told us to look for when making decisions on possibly original pieces. Where plates are concerned either in the guard of a sword or in pieces of armour the thickness should very a bit throughout (visible on any exposed edges) due to having to forge thicker pieces out into larger thinner sheets to create them . Additionally this forging process results often in the inside of the plate being covered with overlapping similar hammer marks both of which are present on this piece. The leather of the grip exhibits as near as we can tell natural wear and is somewhat brittle. I'm not sure whats meant by overall finish Sean so if you could narrow it down a bit for me I can probably do a better job answering any questions for you . The piece overall has a very pleasing patina and feels fabulous in the hand .

[Sean Flynt]

By "superficial," I mean that although the surface appears to be mottled, with some spots of active rust, there doesn't seem to be any rust damage to the surface--pitting, etc. Maybe it's there and the resolution of the images doesn't capture it. It seems unusual, too, that the upper end of the knucklebow would terminate in a ring and be secured beneath the pommel.

Here's an image for comparison:

http://www.myArmoury.com/view.html?antique_dt_sinc_a.jpg

[Allan Senefelder]

The surface rust apears only on the basket and mostly inside and the basket is of a slightly different color which has led me to surmise that the basket may be of iron while the blade is steel(the blade has more of a graphite color while the basket is more twords brown) . Not having any idea what kind of enviornment this was stored in i'm guessing that most folks over the years who handled it probably did the same thing we do which is put your hand in the basket and grab the handle so the skin brushes around the inside thus creating rust inside and not outside the basket. We've had the same sort of orange rust form on some of the originals we take to faire after a season of letting people handle and examine them. Rust is and the level to which its present is not a gaurantee of age . Just look at the pauldron lames abouve , dating to the last quesrter of the 16th century theres hardly any rust on them except for one "blob"if you will that exists for no apparent reason. The rest of the surface is pretty much flawless(this piece has the features Chris clued us into as well).
The bars/rings of the gaurd are forge welded to the guard and the whole feels light and quick in the hand. The basket has plenty of rom for the hand without being so large as to be "swimming" in it and making it hard to wield. Sean if theres any thing you'd like close ups of let me know and i'll shoot them this week for you.