A peculiar 1796 Pattern 'Spadroon'

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Bas,
Thank you so much for this response, and for reaching me privately on the swords you mention involving Richard Dellar. Those two examples, apparently with sound provenance, perfectly answer my questions regarding what seems to be a known practice with Scottish officers in at least some degree.

The variation in the Andrea Ferara markings would appear to be a normal circumstance with these earlier Scottish blades coming from different Solingen makers, who had these applied in expectedly different interpretations.
That these two swords, from the same family, would be held and only sold as a pair, highlights the provenance as well as integrity of the seller.

It also illustrates your suggestion of a Scottish officer having two 'heirloom' (family) blades used in swords for both dress and campaign situations.
I would suspect that these swords may be the subject of further research and publication so possibly deferring on more on them likely the best course. Very prudently handled on your part with this.

I have learned from this discussion notably, and look forward to the arrival of the sword, and hopefully more research forthcoming.

Best regards
Jim

[Radboud]

So the sword finally arrived yesterday and I was able to take some photos of it and get more of an impression of it in the hand.

The stats are:
Length Over All: 975 mm
Blade Length: 823 mm
Point of balance: 125 mm
Sword Weight: 870 grams
Total Weight: 1250 grams

Guard
- Length (Across the hand) 125 mm
- Width (Across the hand) 87 mm
- Height (Including langets) 21.9 mm
- Thickness 2.0 - 4.0 mm
- Inside (Grip to guard) 39.7 mm

Grip
- Outside Length 135 mm
- Inside Length 100 mm
- Width 31.7 to 17.9 mm
- Thickness 24.0 to 20.0 mm

Blade Width Thickness Thickness Inside Fuller
- Ricasso 32.0 mm 6.1 mm 3.8 / 5.2 mm
- 200mm 28.9 mm 4.5 mm 1.9 / 2.8 mm
- 400mm 27.7 mm 3.2 mm 2.0 / 2.5 mm
- 600mm 25.2 mm 2.7 mm 1.3 / 1.5 mm
- 800mm 16.5 mm 1.3 mm

My initial thoughts are that while the stats appear fine on paper and the sword balances fine, I don't think that the grip is optimal to the style of fighting this type of blade favours i.e. cut over thrust. But when held at the lower end of the grip it feels serviceable. Naturally, these are just the opinions of someone who has never trained in sword fighting.