BASKET HILT FOR ID

[Jim McDougall]

FOUND THEM!!
These are terrible quality, and had to use phone but hopefully they are legible enough to illustrate.

The guard with open bars is a form from Mexico often termed the round tang style espada (Adams, '85) however these clearly are mounted with standard tang dragoon blades. It seems the term 'gavilan' was used for them, but more on that cannot recall at moment.
The 'curl' I spoke of can be seen at the base of each bar. Also note the type of rivets/screws which seem regularly used on these types of hilts.

It would seem that rather than forged bars, this is more a pierced sheet steel basket but still recalling the general style.

The closed shell is the style we now attribute to South America for the provenanced mid 19th century example from Brazil. It is a sword I had with an English blade by Lyndon & Wignall (Joseph Lyndon & Wm Wignall, Minerva Works, 1828-1836).

As Mark and I noted, exact match for this spectrum of variations in these settings is pretty unlikely, but I think these examples support the attribution. In my opinion an outstanding example of the innovation and skill of Spanish Colonial artisans .









Here are the photos of the two forms of hilt.
The open hilt is with bar type guard from Mexico, the shellguard with striated lines and drilled holes is the Brazilian form espada.