Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Shipwreck Recovered Sword Grip For Identification

M ELEY · 28th June 2014, 04:03 AM

Awesome shipwreck find! You've probably heard me spout off in the past about how fascinating these types of items are. As you surmised, this appears to be the brass hilt (note the greenish blue verdigris/oxidation) from a French infanty type sword of the period you mentioned. I'm currently at work without access to Neumann's book, but the clues to it being French is the birdhead shaped pommel, large cap, ribbed solid brass grip and the straight quillon with the square quillon end cap. Despite its rough condition, it is a testimony to the resistance of brass to rusting that it survived at all (note the iron blade probably didn't even last a decade submerged!!

28th June 2014, 04:03 AM	#2
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,072	Awesome shipwreck find! You've probably heard me spout off in the past about how fascinating these types of items are. As you surmised, this appears to be the brass hilt (note the greenish blue verdigris/oxidation) from a French infanty type sword of the period you mentioned. I'm currently at work without access to Neumann's book, but the clues to it being French is the birdhead shaped pommel, large cap, ribbed solid brass grip and the straight quillon with the square quillon end cap. Despite its rough condition, it is a testimony to the resistance of brass to rusting that it survived at all (note the iron blade probably didn't even last a decade submerged!! Last edited by M ELEY; 28th June 2014 at 04:33 AM.