Composite Sword

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by A Senefelder

Jim, very familiar with Mr. Schmitt ( his ID'ed work often trades at the same value as low to mid level Renaissance originals ). I don't know if you'd seen this before http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_schmidt.html but the interactive feature of the article allowing you to compare Schmitts work with the originals he was copying is neat http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_schmidt_comp.html. Having seen and owned a few very nice Victorian reproductions built using some original components ( something I understand Mr.Schmitt did on occasion, using an original armour component and constructing a harness around it to match ) my first thought when my friend showed it to me was that it was Victorian. As the evening went on and I contiued to handle the piece I had a harder and harder time ignoring the symbols in the guard and the possible fraternal/Freemasonic character they may have.

I was pretty sure you were well aware of Schmitt as you've well established your expertise on arms and armour, especially armour. Thank you for the heads up on the feature on MyArmoury. I first learned of Schmitt many years ago in a "Man at Arms" article, and was amazed at how authentic his work was. Still, his integrity as far as I understand, was impeccable, and he never created his work to deceive. It was unscrupulous dealers who took advantage when they later passed off his products as originals. This is something that has happened with a craftsman that is a longtime friend and always stamped his work to avoid that, but the industrious dealers filed the mark away and off they went.

It is amazing how these items, even though not original weapons, have established themselves as fascinating antiques in thier own right, and have thier own deeply imbued history.

All the best,
Jim