MARKS OF ARMOURERS, SWORDSMITHS AND GUNSMITHS

[vilhelmsson]

Thank you. This is amazing

[vilhelmsson]

In the interest of science and the arts, I combined and ordered the scanned images into a single pdf which is attached hereto.

[Jim McDougall]

Udo, I wanted to join in thanking you so much for taking the time and effort to add this most valuable resource here. As someone obsessed with blade markings for more years than I can accurately say, this reference has been a mainstay for me, and its great to see it made available for those out there either 'new to the game' or without this handy.

It has provided a most important benchmark in the study of markings, and important as we try to identify marks often seen on blades we encounter.

Vilhelmsson, thank you for your entry in streamlining this as well.

Very much appreciated guys!!!

[fernando]

Thank you for the kind words, Jim .

[corrado26]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Udo, I wanted to join in thanking you so much for taking the time and effort to add this most valuable resource here.

I'm glad to have been able to help you Jim in your never ending search for knowledge. And my thanks too to Wilhelmsson for bringing the pages into the right order.

[Victrix]

Many thanks Corrado. We salute you!

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Brilliant corrado 26, et al.... this is obviously an old book and full of real gems for the weapons enthusiast. I noted at page 9 how the mistake of the fox appeared in this early document and has been repeated down the ages since as the Shotley Bridge mark when it is Samuel Harveys from Birmingham occasionally accompanied by the initial SH inside the Fox.

Did anyone notice that the andrea ferrara mark on pge 72 is noted as the swordmaker under that name workng at bulluna Italy. this goes some way to proving that the man actually existed ?

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

[fernando]

... Celebri furono i maestri spadari come Pietro da Formegan, Giandonato Ferara (fratello del più noto Andrea) *, e i fratelli Giorgio e Giuseppe Giorgiutti da Agordo, dei quali si possono ammirare due bellissimi spadoni a due mani nella Sala d’armi del Consiglio dei Dieci a Palazzo Ducale a Venezia.

Il più noto tra i maestri spadari è però il già citato Andrea Ferara da Fonzaso, attivo nella seconda metà del Cinquecento. Le sue spade con l’elegantissimo fornimento “a tre vie” fecero epoca e da questo fornimento Ferara elaborò anche la gabbia del primo tipo di Schiavona. **

Importante, dunque, fu il ruolo del Bellunese nel mercato europeo delle armi bianche, tanto da far spesso temibile concorrenza a famose città quali Solingen e Passau, con le quali ebbe anche una controversa “guerra dei marchi”. Uno dei marchi più usato dai Bellunesi per lame di pregio era infatti il lupo, che però l’arciduca Alberto aveva già concesso come segno di riconoscimento agli armaioli di Passau fin dal 1349. Difficile dire se fosse stato scelto di proposito, come fecero gli spadari di Solingen, per sfruttare la fama della città concorrente. Ma se così fosse, consoliamoci all’idea che anche il nome di Andrea Ferara veniva spesso contraffatto in Germania su lame destinate al mercato inglese.***

* Andrea's brother ...

** In a very rough translation ...
However, the best known of the Spadari masters is the aforementioned Andrea Ferara da Fonzaso, active in the second half of the sixteenth century. His swords with the very elegant "three-way" hilt (?) made an epoche and from this hilt Ferara also elaborated the cage of the first type of Schiavona

*** But if it were, it is comforting the idea that the name of Andrea Ferara was counterfeited in Germany on blades destined to the English market.

(Courtesy Millo Bozzolan · Published 2015)


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