Hi William,
It would really be great to have some more examples of the type hilts and styles of these civilian foils. With your posts I was compelled to see if I could find more on these very undiscussed weapons in the world of arms and armour and have found that there are few, if any, resources with any amount of comprehensive information.
While the history of fencing is well represented by a number of books, one of the most thorough that I have found, "By The Sword" (Richard Cohen, 2002), is well written and gives fascinating accounts and history, but little in any description of the weaponry.
The only specific references I found noted the effort to find a weapon that was specifically for sport and presumably practice, in the court of Louis XIV in France, was the "...blunted, rectangular section foil". It describes further the first masks of c.1750 of tin with peep holes or horizontal slits for the eyes, which while offering protection, still left potential for injury, much as with the jousting helms in medieval times. Much as in that case, there did occur eye injuries with the blade entering through the holes. By 1770, the first wire mesh masks were introduced.
With that, we are left wondering just what the earliest foils looked like, were they very different from those seen today? Were there distinct differences in the features of the foil preferred by the various countries who practiced this civilian sport? Did these change in any particular way as the sport developed?
These are some of the things I hope we can bring into this discussion thread, and I'm really glad you have brought this fascinating subject to the forum!
Thank you!
All the very best,
Jim