A sail guard sword - blade for ID

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by fernando

Thank you all guys, for all that you have said.
The ivory grip being an issue i believe it is not a 'repair' or a 'replacement' in what it means changing something in bad shape for something new. I would call it a 'modification', in what it means to make it a more selective sword.
Assuming such operation didn't take place in the period, it certainly wasn't done much later ... or was; i see no visible signs of it, though.
I wouldn't reject at all Mark's perspective that, these modifications were commissioned to give the sword a more navy rank posture; which falls within the reasoning of Eduardo Nobre, from which book/collection i extracted and here upload two sail guard examples; one with the discussed scallop and the other with a fluted ivory grip.

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Hi Fernando,
Fashion invariably influences all things, swords included. No reason to ignore the possibility that the grip was changed to bring the sword more up to date i.e. into the 18thC. Again if ivory grips were popular with naval personnel one cannot discount the possibility of it being changed for that reason. If a repair the cutler involved may have rehilted in the manner of the day. A number of circumstances may apply for the apparent change but regardless of which one the sword is interesting, unusual and a great addition to your collection.
My Regards,
Norman.