AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE BROADSWORD/RAPIER C. 1520, PROBABLY ITALIAN

This sword represents a step in the earliest evolution of the swept hilted rapier. It is 48 ½” in length with a 42 ½” diamond section blade with foliate decorated ricasso retaining remnants of gold decoration. The hilt consists of a straight cross guard with a single counter guard and knuckle bow. That form is identified by Norman in The Rapier and Smallsword, as hilt type 8 (p.71) where the author cites two examples illustrated in Italian paintings, one no later than 1526 and the other dated 1504. He further states that two existed in the Spanish Royal Armory and were inventoried and illustrated in 1544 though neither is now known to exist. He concludes: “as far as I am aware, no surviving examples of this type has been recorded”. This then is possibly, if not likely, the only surviving example of its type. The hilt retains a considerable surface with a few speckles of gold. The ricasso and first 14” of the blade are heavily rusted, possibly having been stored in an incomplete scabbard which attracted condensation.