Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Help needed

Jim McDougall · 5th July 2008, 01:42 AM

I'm anxious to see if we get pictures or further response as well Ward, but this thread was great incentive to learn a bit more on the FRINGIA marking on blades.
I would really like to hear from anyone out there who has seen blades with this name or term on them, as it does seem that they have shown up on some examples from India and some 'nimcha' or Moroccan sa'if , but cannot place the instances.

In the meantime, it does seem that the connections between Italy and the makers in Styria were from ancient times, as the Romans highly regarded the steel from these regions (then Noricum). This may explain the reasonably consistant appearance of the well known 'sickle marks' typically associated with Styrian arms and armor, and are generally held to have originally been from Italian makers of Genoa, though probably a guild mark rather than a makers mark. As noted earlier, the FRINGIA is in numerous instances found with these marks on blades, suggesting either Styrian or Hungarian production. I have not yet found examples of Italian blades inscribed with this term, but the Austro-Hungarian provenance for these blades seems well established.

5th July 2008, 01:42 AM	#10
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,765	I'm anxious to see if we get pictures or further response as well Ward, but this thread was great incentive to learn a bit more on the FRINGIA marking on blades. I would really like to hear from anyone out there who has seen blades with this name or term on them, as it does seem that they have shown up on some examples from India and some 'nimcha' or Moroccan sa'if , but cannot place the instances. In the meantime, it does seem that the connections between Italy and the makers in Styria were from ancient times, as the Romans highly regarded the steel from these regions (then Noricum). This may explain the reasonably consistant appearance of the well known 'sickle marks' typically associated with Styrian arms and armor, and are generally held to have originally been from Italian makers of Genoa, though probably a guild mark rather than a makers mark. As noted earlier, the FRINGIA is in numerous instances found with these marks on blades, suggesting either Styrian or Hungarian production. I have not yet found examples of Italian blades inscribed with this term, but the Austro-Hungarian provenance for these blades seems well established.