...and there I was, surrounded by piles of notes
In the pirate sword thread posted by M Eley, there is a great example of espada ancha shown from his collection, which has been recently identified as Brazilian. This has a large shellguard which is a striated steel handguard. I have seen these with English blades from the late 18th century, which suggests this form was likely early 19th century.
Many of the espada anchas from New Spain also carry a clamshell, though rather than an encompassing handguard, it is in the form of a langet. I have often wondered if these clamshells had any particular symbolism, or reason for being chosen as motif. Possibly the large shellguards of the 17th century hunting hangers often seen on English examples might have influenced the frontier smiths who skillfully created these hilts?
It seems little known that the espada ancha had a degree of influence in other far regions of the Spanish dominians, in the Phillipines. It would be interesting to see examples of these weapons, which are typically of course identified with the terms applied to them locally.
Best regards,
Jim