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Originally Posted by TVV
An interesting hypothesis about the purpose of the collar is that it was used to accomodate for the grip in case an archer's finger was worn. Such rings were worn on the right hand's thumb and in a hurry, when taking the ring off was impossible, a normal grip would be quite uncomfortable, at least according to reenactors who have tried it in practice. To get a good grip in such a case, the easiest thing to put one's forefinger over the guard and in front of the so-called collar, the thumb with the ring lying on the guard. The collar serves to protect the forefinger from the edge. ...
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i've found that with my 9c magyar sabre it is more comfortable with the index finger below the guard and the side of the thumb resting on the side of the guard. with the index finger ahead of the guard it's a bit easier to carry but the ring hits the guard and gives a less secure feeling to my grip.
the 16th C. hungarian sabre however, the ring hits the languets wherever you put the forefinger, the thumb resting on the side of the languet and forefinger ahead of the guard seems the most comfortable, tho i'd want to get everything below the guard before i had to parry anything...and with the 16c sabre i'd rather not have the ring on at all. maybe a hard leather thumb patch on a shooting glove would do. may have to try that some time. of course by the 16th c. i wouldn't be a horsebowman....
as thumb rings vary alot in thickness and even shape, this opinion may not apply to other types of ring, i find the ring is fairly easy to rotate with the forefinger to get the working part out of the way, tho it's more difficult with a glove on.....
my bronze thumb ring:
not having access to a horse at the moment, this experimental archeology was done on foot, (and melon targets do not fight back very well either) so results may vary
p.s. - while neither of my repro sabres has the 'collar', the edge is deliberately unsharpened for the 1st two inches from the crossguard as i DO stick my forefinger there on occasion, just not with the archers ring on.