An old sword fragment from Mexico

Lee · 15th January 2022, 05:37 PM

First, to hit the hornet's nest, personally I have considered old Mexican short swords with the D-guard and belt hook to be an espada ancha when mounted with a double-edged "sword" type blade and a machete when mounted with a heavier single-edged blade.

But, of course, nothing is that neat and at the same time along Mexico's west coast in the early 1970s that I collected the early machetes pictured in my old essay I also (cheaply!) acquired this fragmentary remain of hilt and blade forte that I present for your comment.

One of the the outside faces of an iron plate that is part of the iron plates, horn and tang riveted "sandwich" has applied white metal - I suspect it is silver but have not tested it. The guard and any sort of cap at the end of the tang is long gone, but clearly one was once there. The straight, for so much of it as we have, blade is single-edged and about a quarter of an inch thick, so breaking it bust have taken some doing. There is engraved decoration at the base of the blade.

15th January 2022, 05:37 PM	#1
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 913	An old sword fragment from Mexico First, to hit the hornet's nest, personally I have considered old Mexican short swords with the D-guard and belt hook to be an espada ancha when mounted with a double-edged "sword" type blade and a machete when mounted with a heavier single-edged blade. But, of course, nothing is that neat and at the same time along Mexico's west coast in the early 1970s that I collected the early machetes pictured in my old essay I also (cheaply!) acquired this fragmentary remain of hilt and blade forte that I present for your comment. One of the the outside faces of an iron plate that is part of the iron plates, horn and tang riveted "sandwich" has applied white metal - I suspect it is silver but have not tested it. The guard and any sort of cap at the end of the tang is long gone, but clearly one was once there. The straight, for so much of it as we have, blade is single-edged and about a quarter of an inch thick, so breaking it bust have taken some doing. There is engraved decoration at the base of the blade. Attached Images