four foot rapier blades ???

[ulfberth]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but you say the blade is hollow ground, do you mean it is of smallsword trefoil design?
Incidentally, the combination of swept hilt and cup seems quite unique to me; is it?

This type of guard is rare yes, there is a similar rapier in the Hermitage museum in ST Petersburg Russia.
Here is an example of what i mean by a hollow ground blade.