- Not actually Thor -

art-of-swords:

Rare Caucasian Saber

• Dated: Mid-19th century
• Measurements: Overall length 83.8 cm

Made for a Muslim cavalry officer serving in the Imperial Russian Army, with light horn grips, the sword features nielloed silver mounts including a broad tangband, ferrule with applied star and crescent and recurved guard with triangular langet.

The well-forged, single-edged blade comes with very slight curvature, paneled and fullered for its entire length. The sword has a leather-covered wooden scabbard with wire seam, with large silver mounts engraved and nielloed en suite with the hilt.

Source: Copyright © Auction Flex

art-of-swords:

Venetian Schiavona Sword

• Dated: second half of the 17th century
• Measurements: overall length 94.3cm

The characteristically-complex Oakeshott Type 2a hilt forged with flattened, profiled and dovetailed steel branches and integral thumbring. The fine brass “cat’s head” pommel elaborately embellished with flowers, the wooden grip intact but lacking its wire wrap. The broad, double-edged heirloom blade of flattened diamond section with a narrow fuller to either side.

Source & Copyright: Auction Flex

art-of-swords:

Rapier of Prince-Elector Christian II of Saxony

• Hilt maker: Israel Schuech (German, Dresden, active 1590–1610)
• Bladesmith: Juan Martinez (Spanish, Toledo, active circa 1600)
• Dated: 1606
• Culture: German, Dresden
• Medium: Steel; gilt bronze, with traces of enamel; paste jewels; cameos; pearls
• Measurements: L. overall 48 in. (121.92 cm) L. of blade 41 1/4 in. (104.78 cm) Wt. 3 lb. 4 oz. (1474 gm)

This hilt is the only recorded work of the Dresden sword-cutler Israel Schuech. The decoration of strapwork and allegorical figures, set with paste jewels and formerly enameled, parallels contemporary goldsmiths’ work at the opulent Saxon court.

Source: © 2000–2013 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

art-of-swords:

German Broadsword

• Dated: beginning of the 17th century
• Measurements: Overall length 94 cm

This is a rare example of broadswords with a transitional hilt-form. The recurved guard is flared, fluted and it has rolled terminals with integral thumbring to the reverse connected to the massive pommel by a triangular guard set with a pierced plate. The blade is overall engraved. The tapering grip is covered in twisted iron wire with a turk’s head knot at their ends.

The straight, double-edged Spanish blade of lenticular section has a broad central fuller engraved with “NO AL AMOR QUE NO CAUSE TROMENTO / SI NO ES FIRME CONESTA ME LOPAGARAS” (No to love that causes no torment / If it is not firm, with this wilt thou pay me). The guard shows distinct formal and decorative elements with the Pappenheimer rapier hilts, notably the quillon terminals and the pierced and punched pattern in the guard plate.

Source: © Auction Flex

schwerterundstickerei:

art-of-swords:

Hand-and-a-half Sword

• Dated: 1560
• Culture: German

Source: © 2013 Historica Arma

Late period, but I still really like this one. Wish there were a picture of the whole blade though…

art-of-swords:

Steel Talwar

• Dated: circa 1800
• Culture: Indian
• Medium & Technique: engraved and overlaid with gold, with a hilt inlaid with silver
• Measurements: length 86 cm

We do not know precisely when the characteristic Islamic saber was introduced, but work to develop this weapon had at least begun in the 13th century. The early Arab swords were heavy, had straight blades, and were carried in a harness over the shoulder and not in a belt around the hips like the saber.

Sabers of this type (talwar) – with a slightly curved blade, a hilt with a large circular pommel, and a sword guard with prominent knobs – are known in large numbers from India from the 17th to the 19th century.

As the saber became more widely used as a decorative weapon, the blade was ornamented with increasingly exquisite motifs. The gold-contoured engravings on this blade present a selection of hunting animals and their prey, a pair of mythical creatures, and a riderless horse.

Source: © The David Collection

art-of-swords:

Sword

• Swordmaker: Ulrich Diefstetter 
• Dated: 1560-1580
• Culture: Austria or Germany
• Medium: steel, iron, wood, leather, shark skin
• Measurements: 52 5/8 in. (133.67 cm)

This sword was surely made for a nobleman in the honor guard of Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand at Ambras Palace (Innsbruck, Austria): an identical one has been traced to that source. The marks of the maker Diefstetter and of Bavaria, where the blade was inspected, are on the blade. The rough surface and durability of shark skin provided a good grip.

Source & Copyright: The Walters Art Museum

art-of-swords:

Arming Sword

• Dated: circa 1530-50
• Culture: Italian or Spanish 
• Measurements: Blade 94.7 cm. Overall length 107 cm

The sword has a heavy double-edged blade of flattened hexagonal section coming to a short point (associated), formed with a ricasso and cut with a group of small marks capping. There is a pair of narrow fullers on both sides at the forte, iron proto-rapier hilt formed into a pair of quillons with horizontally recurved fishtail terminals. These are cut with a prominent ridge over their respective outer sides. The weapon also features a pair of faceted arms carrying at their head an inverted U-shaped bar ridged en suite with the quillon terminals (broken at one joint).

It has a globular pommel with medial ridge and flattened centres, the outer face deeply incised with a stylised shell. Also comes with a later moulded wire-bound grip, a wooden scabbard with shaped throat covered in modern green velvet and fitted with iron chape with modern leather belt. The hilt is a variation of the Type 16 discussed in A.V.B. Norman, The Rapier and Small-Sword 1460-1820, London 1980, pp. 80-82. A sword with a very closely comparable hilt is alternatively given a Spanish late 15th century attribution by Oakeshott.

Source: © Hermann Historica