A rapier by Pietro Hernandez

[Foxbat]

I was not able to determine, but thare is what appears to be a wolf mark on both sides, so likely a Solingen blade.

[Jim McDougall]

This seems to me a most unusual rendition of what purports to be the 'running wolf' of Passau, later Solingen. While these marks, while indeterminate as far as actual significance symbolically, certainly do appear in varied, almost abstract sometimes, configurations....this one seems to face the opposite direction from most I have seen. I am not saying this is not a Solingen rendition, just that it is very atypical from most I have seen.

[Foxbat]

Well, if you ask me, it looks more like a mule, than anything else, but I am not sure that was the idea.

Here's the other side.

[fernando]

I admire your guys sharp eye; i can see neither a woolf nor a mule .
... But the sword is excelent .

[Jim McDougall]

It seems that in observing these 'running wolf' marks in many examples which cover several centuries, there is far more than variation in the exemplars, and many reach the point of abstraction. In my opinion these figures were chiseled into the blades by shop workers rather than the artisans who were charged with inscribing them.

These workers were not skilled artistically (obviously) but the marks were probably intended as talismanic imbuement which derived from conventions such as that known as 'Passau Art', in which the running wolf 'of Passau' was one of the leading devices as far as sword blades.

The notion seems to have been that despite the artistic deficiency of the application, the talismanic factor would stand in effect simply by the act of the marking. The superstitious fervor that existed with weaponry in these times is something often deeply underestimated in studies of them, which is why markings and inscriptions are most often not well attended to.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by fernando

I admire your guys sharp eye; i can see neither a woolf nor a mule .
... But the sword is excelent .

Looks like a bull to me...

[ulfberth]

Originally Posted by Iain

Looks like a bull to me...

well maybe not a wolf but it looks like a dog to me


the blade looks indeed German, the position of the stamps on the ricasso and the running K9 all point in that direction

[Foxbat]

Well, your picture clearly explains why we have three protrusions where the hind legs are, and only two in the front.

[Iain]

Originally Posted by ulfberth

well maybe not a wolf but it looks like a dog to me


the blade looks indeed German, the position of the stamps on the ricasso and the running K9 all point in that direction

Sure, I wasn't disagreeing that it's a German blade, but I think often we are too quick to designate any vaguely four legged depiction of an animal as a running wolf. From memory the unicorn crops up from time to time as well on Passau blades.