16th century halberd; origin??

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by fernando

I am not sure where precisely my example falls, on what touches a date, even when i compare its maker's mark with a set quoted to be from the mid XV century.

Hi Fernando,
Thank you for sharing this item from your collection, I think it may be an intriguing piece one way or the other... It has some features that I tend to associate with some of the various 17th century models of "Sempach" halberds, but I cannot find a perfect match with any such halberd specifically, and the mark in particular might convince me of an earlier dating.

For my own interest I have been comparing halberds and maker's marks... A useful reference is the website of the Swiss National Museum; their online catalogue has been updated recently and now includes photos and details of more than 1,000 halberds - mostly "Sempach" halberds and others from the 17th century.

http://www.nationalmuseum.ch/sammlun...ID=53&numOf=30

I recognize several of the marks you have shared... The square mark with the diagonal bend and three dots belongs to a Jakob Ringier of Zofingen, d. 1586, according to the Swiss Museum. They have about a dozen examples, and I have found a few in other collections also. All are very similar in shape and style. I haven't yet found any other information about this smith.

http://www.nationalmuseum.ch/sammlun...&sID=&numOf=30

From what I have found so far, the five pointed star with open center and the eight(?) pointed star within a pentagon occur nearly exclusively on halberds with quite similar overall geometry as the Ringier halberds -the blade is always straight and slanting forward, the back-spike is of strongly triangular form. A few halberds with each of the three marks also share other decorative markings of similar style. The Swiss Museum has many examples of both marks on halberds that they date to 1540-60. In Hafted Weapons in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, John Waldman suggests a slightly earlier range of dates for comparable examples: 1520-40. Snook is the outlier, dating the type much earlier, to circa 1500 (Snook's fig. 10 seems to possibly be the exact same halberd in Waldman's fig. 69a).