Colichemardes

[urbanspaceman]

A very straightforward question to you all, please:

Is there any irrefutable indication as to where colichemarde blades were produced; or when they first appeared on the world stage?

I have a 'William Kinmen hilted' colichemarde that I have unhilted while looking for a possible tang marking, but there is none.

Like all smallswords (Klingenthall and Thomas Gill apart) they are always anonymous... why???

[Radboud]

I have a colichemarde blade that is marked N Tol for Toledo on one of my smallswords.

Another, with a regular tri-foil blade has the makers mark I.C.B on the ricasso. So we can’t really say all smallswords are anonymous.

And to be fair, this is not exclusive to smallswords, Osborn blades supplied to cutlers were only carried small identifying stamps on the ricasso. Many a Solingen blade is bare of any marks identifying a maker, leaving us to guess based on the blade decorations.

It could even be that this was a concession to the cutler who was interested in promoting their brand over that of the blade.

[urbanspaceman]

Hey Radboud, this is great news, thank-you for contributing.

Could you let me/us have photos of the markings and the complete swords please; I would be extremely obliged to you as they will be truly rare examples.

I wholeheartedly agree that blade decoration i.e. etching and/or engraving, was generally down to the slipper or cutler, who would want a blank sheet to work on; however, Klingenthal got away with it in abundance and despite that, there are some beautifully embellished blades that include their signature; so I'm not certain this can be a widespread rule.

Your response regarding unsigned blades in general is obviously well known and irrefutable, but in this case that was not my point: my point precisely is "where did colichemarde blades start and when did they finish. My request for help is because there is virtually no evidence to be seen, which is what makes your blades so unique.

[urbanspaceman]

My apologies, I should have asked this:

N Tol may be straightforward enough but does anyone know what I. C. B. stands-for?

[Radboud]

Hello,

Of the two marked blades, only the Toledo is a colichmarde, and it has a later hilt. However the blade has always been a smallsword blade. I have posted it previously in this thread:Composite Smallsword

The second has the more common, later blade, and is the second one in this post: Another two smallswords

Not a marked blade, but this smallsword is a French Model 1767 Officers sword, and it carries a colichmarde blade. This indicates at the very least that they were still carried into the last quarter of the 18th Century:

French Model 1767 Officer’s smallsword

[urbanspaceman]

Wow! Two beautiful swords.

The first one (N Tol) takes us into territory that has been terribly overlooked; at least, if there is published research out there then I have not found it, but !!!!! as I am constantly declaring "I am an almost total novice" and have entered this world exclusively via Shotley Bridge.

This is unquestionably a colichemarde style, but being based on a flattened blade makes it - please correct me if I am in error - very early, probably early 1600s and not what I am researching, but...

This is, in itself, of considerable interest, as the colichemarde's fattened forte has generally been associated with trefoil smallswords, so may go some way towards establishing the history of the moniker i.e. was it called a colichemarde back then?

The concept of a fattened forte obviously begins well before the arrival of the hollowed blade, probably during the rapier/smallsword transitional period? Norman is frustratingly scant when it comes to blades; frustrating for me anyway because I have zero interest in hilts, and the beautiful reprint I bought was very expensive.

I suspect this is a Solingen blade marked thus for a particular market.

I have to confess, I have been on the lookout for one for some time.

The ICB blade is another matter altogether! Is it an 1800s product?

[Radboud]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

My apologies, I should have asked this:

N Tol may be straightforward enough but does anyone know what I. C. B. stands-for?

I.C.B or sometimes I.G.B is believed to be the mark for Johann and Clemens Boegel of Solingen.

[Radboud]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

I wholeheartedly agree that blade decoration i.e. etching and/or engraving, was generally down to the slipper or cutler, who would want a blank sheet to work on; however, Klingenthal got away with it in abundance and despite that, there are some beautifully embellished blades that include their signature; so I'm not certain this can be a widespread rule.

Regrettably again there are no hard and fast rules, as we see sword blades marked to J J Runkel (especially the earlier ones) with typical Solingen decorations mounted on late 18th Century British cavalry blades. Which indicates that some blades at least were shipped from the maker with (J J Runkel was a merchant, not a manufacturer) pre-existing generic decorations.

Then we have markings of quality like the Passau wolf and the Andrea Ferrara mark, which were commonly forged. I think the one rule we can rely on is that if the customer wanted it, then the Solingen smiths were happy to mark their blades thus.