Hello Together,
Some month ago I got this interesting sword. It was covered by a thick patina (see first picture) which was easy to remove. Surprisingly the condition under the patina was quite good. It is 90cm long, the blade is 77cm. The Guard is cutted from iron, no iron casting. There was a thumb-ring on the shell-guard, removed in the old times and the blade is signed with the "passauer Wolf" and the "magical number" 1518. I found a similar piece (converning the lion-guard) at Hermann-Historica, Auction 62/63 -> a selection of collectibles -> Hunting Hangers Lot Nr. 2330c
http://www.hermann-historica.de/db2_...ion-62-63.html
I got three different opinions on this piece:
- "maybe historism (19th cent.) while using a blade of the 17th."
- "Officers Felddegen, around 1660, the guard in the style of Gottfried Leygebe"
- "Guard around 1580, Northitalian, the blade marriaged with the guard around 1600"
My opinion: Due to searching a lot of catalogues etc. I think the second opinion (around 1660) is the most likely one. But I couldnīt find an identical or nearly identical piece. In my eyes evidence against historism is the removed thumb-ring and the deep nick/cut on one of the stirrups (sse picture), which seems to originate from another edge weapon, also as this potential hit bended the stirrup out of shape (see last pic).
I would be very interested in your opinion about this peace. Maybe you can also help me to find out about the geographical context of the sword.
Thanks and best regards,
Andi