Suspicious Rapier hilt

[midelburgo]

That is an idea. I will look for casting lines. I do not see any obvious with these pictures. I would expect cast iron to be brittle, and several of the branches are quite distorted to stand something like that. But it could be some other pot metal and my friend is wrong about it being iron. Whatever its age the sword seems old enough for not being made of cast steel. The grip has the same aspect as a Bilbo grip that has lost the wire and the longitudinal ribs, the rings above the cross and below the pommel do not look XVIth century to me but rather XVIIIth century and Spanish. Your picture shows nicely the lower guard with the part that I think is missing. The inner guard is less developed in the problem grip, but still protrudes more than the usual XIXth century decorative wall hanger.