A composite sword
 

Hello,

a friend of mine recently acquired this sword, knowing it's most probably a composite piece.
We think the hilt might be possibly 17th century, the blade most probably 19th century. What puzzles us - there are remains of gilding on the blade (as well as on the hilt). So we are wondering why would anyone in the 19th century gild such a blade.

Total sword length: 112 cm
Blade length: 91 cm

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

Thank you,
Matus

more pictures

Nice sword, Matus.
Why do you place the blade in such late period ? I know you have it in your hands, so you can judge better.
I can't trace the name GORROCHATEGUI, a Spanish (Basque) name, in my scarce material on swordsmiths, but maybe someone here will.
... Or maybe this was the owner's name, FS being the blade smith's mark :shrug:

yep, composite. the visible tang looks like it had a piece added so it would fit the grip, ie. it was made for another sword. maybe someone 'repairing' a broken original that was also gilded?

The blade feels really thin and also the "F S" stamp with the grape (?) doesn't look like 17th century.
The overall feel of the sword is also a bit "shaky".