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Originally Posted by kai
Hello Roland,
The number is done very differently than the moon and "stars" - the latter might be old/genuine and point to Europe, indeed.
The number doesn't strike me as anything sensible to do to a working blade (with the outer margin of the first number coming close to the [hardened?] edge); thus, I'd go for a later addition (and musea as well as collectors are known to have done dumb things to their pieces)!
Regards,
Kai
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I think as you, the number and symbols were added later to add mor importance to the blade. The number is clearly stamped in. Earlier collectors has been pretty ruthless in this point. Many old blades got collection stamps like this one, sometimes even above decorations.
Best,
Roland
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Originally Posted by Victrix
The sword looks like you would imagine a moor pirate sword to look like. The man-in-the-moon suggests that it’s not Islamic but European. The number 1748 looks like it was stamped into the sword rather than engraved. Could it be to commemorate the year in which this weapon was captured by its owner? There seem to have been a number of British-Spanish engagements in that year and it seems to have been when the Austrian War of Succession ended.
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Yes the number is 100% stamped in the surfce, which is a clear indicator, that the number was added later. I think like you, it is a special date or simply the date, when it was aquired.
Roland
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Originally Posted by Will M
The 1748 is a stamping and is the same or similar to German stamps from the late 1800's found on their firearms etc.
The moon appears to be a later but older addition with its outline unbroken seeming to miss any deep corrosion.
This blade also looks very much like a machete to me.
Many older blades have an iron tang with steel blade but I don't see and forged welding where the two would meet.
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Yes, the style of the stamped numbers is typical for the 18th ct. The blade is short but heavy and it feels like the modern French Foreign Legion machete-sword, which is an enourmous large and heavy machete. Unfortunately there is no picture of the French machete in the Internet. I own two of them for training escrima techniques. If someone wish to see a picture of one of the last swords in use, please ask me.
Tang and blade seems to be made of one kind of steel, no scarf welded techniques. In the next days I will make a test with my salt to bring out the pattern, which hopefully gives more certainty.
I tend to believe as it was said in the comments, it seems to be a European Falchion/Malchus.
Roland