Spanish Bilbo Circa 1700

[Cathey]

Hi Fernando

And thank you for all of the information you keep finding, its extremely interesting. Looks like the H may be an inspection mark as you suggest. I hope others will post further examples with the straight quillons for comparison.

Cheers Cathey and Rex

[fernando]

Hi Cathey,
We must not forget that your sword predecessor, modelo 1650, had straight quillons, a detail that forcingly carried its influence iton later style evolutions, be it put out of factory by (non ordenance) customers, or brought from Germany with such variation, as seen out there, and even straightened by owners, also as also noted by authors, particularly because the act of their straighening leaves some mechanical traces.
I will hijack again Mr. Vicente Momparler works to show you a nice example, visibly not of military property, without the usual Royal marks and with the suggestive isncription "BENCER O MORIR POR MY REY" " (Win or die for my King). Bencer instead of Vencer was a common mispell, as still so pronounced in some areas, even in th North of Portugal.
Next i will hijack an article (already used above) by Mr. Juan José Perez, in which he restored one of theses swords with a broken quillon, in which the remaining one showed traces of having been curved before being straightened by someone ... even by a collector, a procedure not excluded by Juan José.


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[Victrix]

Hi Fernando,

Would you be able to post a picture of the predecessor espada modelo 1650 for us, so we can see what that looks like in comparison?

Many thanks!

I managed to find these pages on the internet, from what must be a rather charming book.

[fernando]

For your amusement, pictures of a sword sold by Jose A. Solis, dated 1777, in which the guard fixation is already done in four points, but in this case with rivets, a version prior to that with screws. The inspection mark is well visible.
Interesting to see how the quillons were straigtened in a such careless manner.


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[midelburgo]

Sorry for resurrecting this thread but I did not notice it before. I want to make some clarifications on the markings, as requested.

The hilt is the standard 1728 model Spanish Cavalry trooper. The cross follows the 1761 instructions and the pommel is from the version seen after 1771.
The blade however is from the 1803 model the one which substituted the 1728. It has a different way of etching, used first in the Guardias de Corps units and generalized to all cavalry units in 1804. It does not have a full ricasso as used in the 1728 blades. And there is edge on the back only for the first third.

Inscriptions mean Carlos IV (Cs IV, Toledo (To), Royal property (R), Cavalleria de Linea.

The blade and the hilt possibly came together in the emergency after Napoleon invasion in 1808. However, what is common is to find a 1803 hilt with a recycled 1728 blade, not the other way.


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