A Good Musketeer's Rapier, Probably Saxony, ca. 1600

[Chris Evans]

Hi Fernando,

Originally Posted by fernando

I am with you Chris but, if you are (also) referring to my post 17#, let me emphasize that the narrator in the video is not properly 'public at large' and the sword he shows has no elaborate hilt but simply and purely a bowl and straight quillons

Well, he went by appearances and was completely ignorant of the function of rapiers.

As far as cup hilts go, we have another difficulty: Are they complex hilts? I suppose they are more complex than simple cross quillons, but then what are we to make of the Gothic hilt on a sabre? OK then, maybe a cup alone is not complex enough, but when it is found in combination with quillons, and even a knuckle bow? I don't know, but can see a large degree of arbitrariness.

Probably what we need is some authority to lay down a comprehensive convention and then the rest of us will be forced to adhere to it, or else risk looking like ignoramuses

Cheers
Chris