Thank you so much Capn! What an incredible 'shell' that is!!!
Great insight into these types of cutlasses, and how key this is to the scope of the espada ancha, which of course evolved it seems from these types of swords used on vessels. The terminology is always a conundrum, essentially a heavy, relatively short bladed weapon is a 'cutlass' as used on a vessel.....but employed in utility use ashore becomes a 'machete'.
The machetes that became known as 'espada ancha' through an inadvertent mistranslation in the 1960s, thus creating a colloquial term for them, now firmly emplaced, are in effect machetes. (a machete by any other name is still a machete- Shakespeare?).
While the 'shell' that just entered my arms locker has its place among espada anchas.....I will post another thread for it under cutlass heading after a bit more research.
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