Sword guard for comments

[midelburgo]

What I find weird is not the present piece design, which seems logical in the evolution of sword guards, but the lack of similar examples.
1)The first possibility is that it is a real early XVIth century Iberian hilt. But these swords are fairly light. 600 grams just for the guard is a lot.

2)I have been checking copies of Tizona, some of them well 130 years old, and none have that design in the lower guard. There have been pictures of Tizona for longer, some 160 years. If somebody wanted to make an accurate copy that was easy. But your piece is just a resemblance. I wonder why. If somebody would have just the picture from Laurent below, possibly he would have come with that design, not knowing what is at the other side, but the rest of the hilt would have been closer to Tizona.

3)Another possibility is that the guard was made in XVIIth or XVIIIth centuries for a San Miguel or Santiago church image. They wanted something looking medieval but at the same time technically closer to what was done at that time.