[Cathey]

Hi Bob, good to hear from you.

With regard to your ribbon hilt, of course I don’t have the luxury of having actually held your sword; however you may have been a little hasty believing it to be a fake. Often hilts and blades where of different manufacture and SOLINGEN was certainly a prolific blade maker at the time. Solingen also routinely added FARARA to their blades destined for the Scottish market. Hilts of this latter Ribbon hilt style do all look almost identical and it is reasonable to believe that if they came from the same maker this would be the case.

However, this being said, the feel of the sword is hard to ignore, if it doesn’t feel right in the hand or if the blade is un-tempered then it may well be a pretender. I am relieved to hear the dealer took it back as I know once you have any doubt over a piece it is hard to live with. Lack of evidence of use might just mean that, this sword saw little or no action. These larger blades are also pretty robust; those in my collection are in similarly good condition, lacking the usual nicks etc.

I have been unable to find a Peter KNAVFF or KNAVEE in any of my references and if someone was going to add a fake maker, I would have thought they would have picked one who is easily identified and/or more desirable. The grip on both of these is obviously a latter replacement, but again given the age this is also not unusual and swords passed down through generations would require some upgrades if still in use.

I have two ribbon hilts which I will post, one early version and another similar to the ones posted here, although mine has had a much harder life. The hilt has a period replacement pommel from a rapier and someone has added to the collar to fit the wrong pommel. Very sad, but I have left it as is at this stage. This sword feels absolutely wonderful in the hand, very light and balanced.

It is so sad the Baron of Earlshall has passed away, it would have been wonderful to get his thoughts on these swords. I was fortunate that he had already given mine the thumbs up, although he really hated the rapier pommel sitting on top of a Beak Neb as he called them.

Cheers Cathey and Rex