Hi Guys,
The scabbard is obviously late 19th C.
The use of the Wolf/Dog by spanish armourers as mark of a quality blade in the 15th C, long before Passau and subsequently Solingen, is very well documented. It is also well established the presence of both German armourers in Toledo, and later that of Spanish Armourers in Passau and Solingen.
The early armourers were mostly spanish muslims, like famed Julian del Rey. It is said that they couldn't have used a dog as a quality symbol, because in their culture, a dog was considered a dirty, lower type of animal. It is thus more likely that the symbol represented instead a wolf, and that subsequent folklore instead denigrated it to a "perrillo", or literally a "doggy". The Spanish do have an ingrained tendency to mock everything.
In fact, Don Enrique de Leguina states in his work that the German and Spanish marks could not be distinguished from each other: "Lleva la marca, rellena de cobre, llamada en España del «perrillo», y en Alemania «del lobo»: la primera atribuida al célebre espadero español Julián del Rey, y la segunda a espaderos de Passau y de Solingen, sin que hasta ahora haya sido posible distinguir en absoluto unas de otras"
Julian del Rey shows this mark only on his _cutting_ swords, it has been proposed that the mark itself was originally a quality blade seal applied by the Sword Makers Guild. Indeed, Julian's usual trademark was a cross.
Please refer to . LAMARCA DEL PERRILLO DEL ESPADERO ESPAÑOL
JULIAN DEL REY by J. J. Rodriguez Lorente.
Regarding the pas d'ane, I have owned similar swords to this one and theirs were fully functional, allowing me to insert my large fingers trough their openings, stablizing my grip on the sword. From my end, this one looks identical to those.
BTW, olive type pommels were used in Spain since the mid 16th C. The blade "feels" 17th C to me.
The double clamshell guard was seen in Spain from around the times of Gustavus Adolphus (Mid to late 17th C), my suspicion being they were introduced as an adaptation from the german / Pappenheimer's guard.
Taking everything into account, plus all the spanish swords I have handled at museums, I'd still place this one around 1720.
Last but not least, our "Maestre Perrillo" was only one of many spanish armourers using the doggy/wolf mark. Rememeber, in Spain there were about 15 major armouries making swords. Just check the enclosed image.
'Nando, glad that you're following my dissertation..!
: )
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