A Spanish rapier Early 17TH century

fernando · 25th February 2017, 06:40 PM

Thank you for your generous entry Jim,
I take it in short that your perspective of the half moon being a symbol of Castillian Royal benefit to sword smiths constitutes an unassailable theory; notwithstanding the Wallace work being the sole source where so far this assumption resides... also notwithstanding again that, out of nearly ten items marked with half moons in this catalogue, only two of them mention such potentiality; and even in one of such two (A652) the author tags the sword as Toledan but he question marks the blade as being German ... as German and Italian are all the other sword blades with the half moon in this catalogue (all variants of this symbol in page 688/9).
On the other hand, we have that a couple Spanish scholars either reject or never heard of such intentional marking. Besides the magnificent example in the Met shown above, revealing the existence of the ESPADERO DEL REY signature for Juan Martinez but no half moon presence, i have gone through the whole descriptive catalogue of Armeria Reale by Valencia de Don Juan and saw not one half moon symbol in their swords.
As you know Jim, my previous knowledge of these things is infinitely less than what i have recently learnt but, suggestion that the half moon might be linked to Royal Castilian patronage is something i find hard to digest; eventually this symbol was one the favorite of French King Henry II, by the way.
Concerning Beraiz notes, i shoul remind that part of his assessments are personal but a great part of what he wrote about the Palomares nomina are not his conclusions but actual transcriptions of Palomares work, namely the privileges and tax exemptions (Alcavalas) granted by the King to those selected Espaderos del Rey. And speaking of such, Palomares, a studious of Toledo marks, makes no mention to a half moon being a statute mark. Also i should precise that what i brought here about the Brotherhood and Guild was captured from a work by Esperanza Pedraza Ruiz.
I look forward to hear from you or other member an explicit evidence of the half moon being an appendix to the Espadero del Rey signature.
... And then it's time i eat them frogs

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Yours humbly

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25th February 2017, 06:40 PM	#30
fernando (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,694	Thank you for your generous entry Jim, I take it in short that your perspective of the half moon being a symbol of Castillian Royal benefit to sword smiths constitutes an unassailable theory; notwithstanding the Wallace work being the sole source where so far this assumption resides... also notwithstanding again that, out of nearly ten items marked with half moons in this catalogue, only two of them mention such potentiality; and even in one of such two (A652) the author tags the sword as Toledan but he question marks the blade as being German ... as German and Italian are all the other sword blades with the half moon in this catalogue (all variants of this symbol in page 688/9). On the other hand, we have that a couple Spanish scholars either reject or never heard of such intentional marking. Besides the magnificent example in the Met shown above, revealing the existence of the ESPADERO DEL REY signature for Juan Martinez but no half moon presence, i have gone through the whole descriptive catalogue of Armeria Reale by Valencia de Don Juan and saw not one half moon symbol in their swords. As you know Jim, my previous knowledge of these things is infinitely less than what i have recently learnt but, suggestion that the half moon might be linked to Royal Castilian patronage is something i find hard to digest; eventually this symbol was one the favorite of French King Henry II, by the way. Concerning Beraiz notes, i shoul remind that part of his assessments are personal but a great part of what he wrote about the Palomares nomina are not his conclusions but actual transcriptions of Palomares work, namely the privileges and tax exemptions (Alcavalas) granted by the King to those selected Espaderos del Rey. And speaking of such, Palomares, a studious of Toledo marks, makes no mention to a half moon being a statute mark. Also i should precise that what i brought here about the Brotherhood and Guild was captured from a work by Esperanza Pedraza Ruiz. I look forward to hear from you or other member an explicit evidence of the half moon being an appendix to the Espadero del Rey signature. ... And then it's time i eat them frogs . Yours humbly . Attached Images Last edited by fernando; 25th February 2017 at 07:15 PM.