The guard appears a bit unusual in that the detailing on the ship is only on the side towards the grip. Seems to me that for one-sided decorations, the details are generally on the blade side, so perhaps the guard here was intended for a ceremonial/dress sword, one which wasn't going to leave the scabbard. I guess grabbing an old sword blade of impressive dimensions might make sense for such a sword.
As for the mismatch in decoration between grip and guard, could they perhaps be from two different swords originally? The knuckle bow doesn't seem to fit the slot in the grip all that well.
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