Searching for a Coftgari artist in Europe

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by Drabant1701

Here are some pictures from the restoration. As you can see it was in quite bad shape. Im not sure if it was rhino horn or something else. There was a cloth ribbon (?) wraped around it it was probably red long ago I dyed it grey and put it back.

Hello Drabant,

thank you for showing the pictures. The hilt is rhino horn. After I bought some examples of water buffalo horn, I decided to make the new hilt from old grenadilla hardwood.

I cannot share the opinion of some collectors, to leave it as it is.

It is the same for me like a good Oldtimer car. After restoration most Oldtimers are better than ever before.

Another important reason, without a restoration this blade will more and more corrode and in 100 years or so it is just a lost piece of rust and dirt.

I will keep the old handle and pins and store it carefully. So it is no problem, to set the sword back to its current state.


Roland

[Drabant1701]

Originally Posted by Roland_M

Hello Drabant,

thank you for showing the pictures. The hilt is rhino horn. After I bought some examples of water buffalo horn, I decided to make the new hilt from old grenadilla hardwood.

I cannot share the opinion of some collectors, to leave it as it is.

It is the same for me like a good Oldtimer car. After restoration most Oldtimers are better than ever before.

Another important reason, without a restoration this blade will more and more corrode and in 100 years or so it is just a lost piece of rust and dirt.

I will keep the old handle and pins and store it carefully. So it is no problem, to set the sword back to its current state.


Roland

Roland, I think you should restore your sword in a way that feels right for you, there will be as many different opinions on how to resore/not restore antiques as there are collectors.

I used some gun stock oil to darken the handle with good result. Also if you want patina on brass details (such as re-cut pins) you can use ammonia to stain it.