Side sword with unusually wrought hilt

[shayde78]

Well, this may be another case of me "paying tuition" for a lesson in not pursuing items that seem too good to be true. In all honesty, I approached this piece with a great deal of skepticism. However, once the item was in hand, I find it not so easy to dismiss as a modern piece of art.

To my admittedly untrained eye, I don't see evidence of modern manufacturing techniques. I don't see any evidence of casting and the details seem hand chiseled with the inconsistencies and asymmetry expected from such a technique. If my assessment is accurate, the hilt took a lot of labor to produce. This prompted me to look thru my references on Ernst Schmidt's atelier of Munich, and I don't see any comparable pieces. That said, I feel I've seen such a hollow hilt before, I just don't know where.

The hilt is entirely steel. The golden color is the result of old varnish. In fact, the entire sword seems to have been dipped in varnish quite some time ago as a thick coating covers the full blade and hilt. The tang is rectangular through its visible length thru the grip.

The sword is surprising light and well balanced. The blade is well tempered and flexible with a steady distal taper.

.I still need to take my full measurements, but the overall length is 44.5 inches, with blade of 36 inches.

The photos are the seller's.

I'm eager to know your thoughts, and don't spare my feelings. I bought it knowing it's most likely no older than Victorian (quite possibly even modern), but still...could it be more?

As always, thank you for sharing your honest opinions.