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Old 18th October 2017, 05:28 PM   #29
fernando
Lead Moderator European Armoury
 
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Old 14th November 2007, 06:53 PM

Posted by:
Jim McDougall

EAA Research Consultant

Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66

Gentlemen,
Thank you so much for regenerating this thread! and Andrew thank you for the kind words and including the thread in the classics, which is great as I had hoped this would become a standing resource on this important data that we could all use as a reference.

Kronckew, thank you for posting the marking from the hanger you note, and I'm with you in the regrets that you did not acquire it. The running wolf looks to be a 17th century mark and quite likely would have appeared on hanger blades. However, the mark may be from German swordsmiths who were emplaced in England at Hounslow in mid 17th century, as well as later in the century at Shotley Bridge. In both cases there were hangers produced, and as you have noted, became popular in maritime use. These short, heavy blade swords were key for action in the tight quarters aboard ships, and were often included among arms favored by pirates as well as the officers of commercial ships they preyed upon. I have seen the running wolf mark on these English hangers, though it appeared without makers marks and was likely used by some of the German swordsmiths independantly as a general quality symbol. Some of these seem to have been inlaid brass.

As Katana has suggested, it would seem likely that a hanger might have been reworked or remounted during working life, especially among private weapons.

Fernando, thank you for your excellent post and for the extra effort at showing the marks and the sword which really is interesting. I had often wondered about the crescent moon markings use on German blades, and this shows that they did occur paired, which I once thought appeared only on the Saharan blades. While I can see the moons, were there other marks on the blade?

All best regards and appreciation,
Jim

,

Last edited by fernando; 19th October 2017 at 06:42 PM.
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