Curiouser and curiouser! As it turns out, I can see no evidence at all of any embellishment on the fittings or scabbard of this sword; indeed, the wood in both cases looks, to me, quite new, and I'd suggest that this is an old blade placed in new mountings prior to presentation. Quite who decided to do this is beyond me, but mine not to reason why... anyway, some pictures. I was unfortunately unwilling to remove the entirety of the black cover on both sword and scabbard, but discovered that in the former case, it was held together merely by glue (which has begun to give up the ghost), and in the latter that a portion of the material is quite loose and can be manipulated to reveal the wood beneath. The only trace of anything even remotely glittery I could find on this piece, in fact, lies at the stubby pommel, and seems to be a thin coating of a shiny metal; perhaps long-tarnished silver. I shall give some of it a careful silver-cleaning treatment and see what comes up, if anything.
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