I found this nice picture which i think describes why the Lion is standing on top of this Monsters. It might be the lion of holland overcoming the waterwolf. The picture is on a map from from 1640, so timely it also would fit. Source: rijnland.net
On the other hand there are similar exampls, which are not attributed to holland. Here is a picture of the Pallasch of Herzog Maximilian I of Bavaria (Source: bayerisches-nationalmuseum.de). It was made in Prague but looks (apart from all these jewels ;-) and the lion at the crossguard) quite similar to the first piece Jasper showed.
Last edited by AHorsa; 5th May 2014 at 02:59 PM.
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