19th Century German hunting Sword

Jim McDougall · 10th December 2013, 05:28 AM

Neekee welcome to the forum!! and thank you for sharing this very nice hanger which while of the general form of European hunting swords would be hard to classify as 'German'. I would presume this more likely 18th century as Kronckew has noted, and as he also has suggested, there does seem to be some kind of configuration further down the blade.

The deep circular stamp near the forte seems possibly to be a rather stylized version of what is often termed loosely the 'Dutch star' ("Blanke Wapens", Puype, p.50) which commonly occurred on Dutch blades. According to notes from Fernando taken from a Dutch curator, these radiating figures similar to a sunburst or sunflower were a kind of paternoster. As often the case, these kinds of marks are not attributed to a particular maker, but favored by certain groups or regions in varying periods and applied in rather a talismanic sense. Other dialogue has suggested these often deep set devices seem to have ceased use about middle of 18th c.

While Solingen indeed provided many blades to European markets, a number of smiths emigrated to Netherlands where they continued production.

These hangers were favored by gentry and nobility as riding swords and were favored as well by officers, often naval as Kronkew notes. These swords were also often considered dress or even court swords.The stylized nature of the stamp suggests this blade may be later in 18th century, and the form was in use into the 19th, but this example seems probably Dutch mid to later 18th century.

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10th December 2013, 05:28 AM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	Neekee welcome to the forum!! and thank you for sharing this very nice hanger which while of the general form of European hunting swords would be hard to classify as 'German'. I would presume this more likely 18th century as Kronckew has noted, and as he also has suggested, there does seem to be some kind of configuration further down the blade. The deep circular stamp near the forte seems possibly to be a rather stylized version of what is often termed loosely the 'Dutch star' ("Blanke Wapens", Puype, p.50) which commonly occurred on Dutch blades. According to notes from Fernando taken from a Dutch curator, these radiating figures similar to a sunburst or sunflower were a kind of paternoster. As often the case, these kinds of marks are not attributed to a particular maker, but favored by certain groups or regions in varying periods and applied in rather a talismanic sense. Other dialogue has suggested these often deep set devices seem to have ceased use about middle of 18th c. While Solingen indeed provided many blades to European markets, a number of smiths emigrated to Netherlands where they continued production. These hangers were favored by gentry and nobility as riding swords and were favored as well by officers, often naval as Kronkew notes. These swords were also often considered dress or even court swords.The stylized nature of the stamp suggests this blade may be later in 18th century, and the form was in use into the 19th, but this example seems probably Dutch mid to later 18th century.