Thumb rings on cutlasses
I was just flipping through Swords and Blades of the American Revolution and a picture of a cutlass with a thumb ring caught my eye. How common were thumb rings on such swords? I know there's a picture of Nathan holding one in the albums, maybe he can chime in. Do they significantly improve control? Also, I've heard it said that thumb rings in general were mostly a continental feature. Is that correct?
Any help is appreciated,
Thanks,
Dan
Re: Thumb rings on cutlasses
Dan Dickinson wrote:
I was just flipping through Swords and Blades of the American Revolution and a picture of a cutlass with a thumb ring caught my eye. How common were thumb rings on such swords? I know there's a picture of Nathan holding one in the albums, maybe he can chime in. Do they significantly improve control? Also, I've heard it said that thumb rings in general were mostly a continental feature. Is that correct?
Any help is appreciated,
Thanks,
Dan


They don't seem to appear on English swords of the 1600s or thereafter.
Thumb rings are almost exclusively found on Continental swords. If you have another look through Neumann, you'll notice that a number of the infantry hangers from the continent also have thumb rings. The thumb ring appears to have seen minimal use in Britain on the so-called Mortuary hilted swords on the mid 17th century, but not the hanger- or cutlass-type swords (to my knowledge) . Here are two examples of English Mortuary-hilted swords with thumb rings, both from Cyril Mazansky's British Basket-Hilted Swords:
[ Linked Image ]
[ Linked Image ]

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