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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
I would like to thank Mark for adding this information and scans from these resources illustrating these markings, and for including the reference sources.
This really helps as these archived threads hold an important corpus of data which is very much daily used by those carrying out varying research on these and related topics. I learn every day from these kinds of entries so generously shared here.
It is interesting to see the suggestion of a monstrance, and how many of the markings used on blades carry ecclesiastical significance.
It has always seemed a bit of a conundrum with the running wolf (ostensibly from Passau) marking, which is not actually a makers mark but appears to have been some sort of guild mark which became a symbol implying quality and strength.
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Hi Jim,
You are welcome and thanks for the kind words. I found this site to be a great resource long before I ever joined as a member, so I'm happy to pay it forward and share my own little bits of research!
Since religion was such a ever-present feature of day-to-day life in these times, it's natural that it would be inspiration for signs and symbols in other contexts, I suppose...
Since the wolf-mark seems to have been copied and spread so widely, it may well remain impossible to really identify the origin of any particular marked blade, but by comparing enough examples I think there is still the chance that interesting correlations and patterns may appear... Take version (c) of the wolf-mark in the table above for example: it is quite distinct and recognizable compared to the other marks, and so far I have found it occurring only on examples of the distinctive early types of
spadas Schiavonescas used in Venice by the doge's guards.
I have only found four examples, so too few to draw any real conclusions - but in each case, this mark appears alone, without any of the associated crosses, monstrances, etc. that otherwise seem quite typical of Passau(?) blades. Since these Venetian swords are in general very uniform in appearance, and many of their blades have what are usually thought to be Italian markings, perhaps we can hypothesize that mark (c) at least is an imitation and not a true Passau marking.