Hi Gonzalo,
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Originally Posted by Gonzalo G
* A shorter hilt, derved of the fact that the spanish grip used only three fingers to grasp the hilt, as the others went over the quillons.
* The spanish cup guards were less deep and with less diameter
* The pommels were more flattened and smaller.
* On the inner side and centered in the cup, the presence of an element called "dust keeper", a small plaque which reinforces structurally the cup and the union of this elements with the pas d´ane, the circular rings over the recasso
Altough Dueñas Beraiz does not deny or accept this specific dictinctions, he says that is difficult to determine the place of origin of a swords only based on the hilt and guard elements, as the styles were a subject of constant intercouse among different countries.
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Many thanks for all those valid observations.
That work of Beraiz is very good, as he makes quite a number of points not encountered elsewhere. Someone ought to translate it into English.
On the matter of smaller hilts, Castle tells us that towards the end of the 16th century hilts were short so as to rest against the palm of the hand. My take on this, is that to achieve such a grip, a small pommel was a requisite - And I often speculated on how this influenced the balance of the long rapier, shifting the POB towards the point. It would be nice if curators could be persuaded to compile the important attributes of swords in their collections as then we could gain a much better understanding as to their inherent traits and how they were used.
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There is another important element to be taken on account. Many rapier blades made on Spain were actually mounted in other countries, so there is no relation among blade and mounts (hilts and guards). So, those rapiers are not representative of the Spanish ones, no matter they carry on the blade a stamp from a Toledo swordmaker.
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Yes, sword production was then a truly a multi-regional industry and to make things worse, many blades were at a later date retro-fiited with hilts that differed from the originals. And to add more confusion, makers names and origins were widely falsified.
Cheers
Chris