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#1 |
(deceased)
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
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I can not locate the article in which Calvó defines the BOCA DE CABALLO as having started prior to the 1728 ordnance model. The source where i have read that, was a different one (which ?). Actually Calvó attributes the reason for the popular term to have been expessed by his friend Eduardo Jiménez. Actually my idea for such reason is not the same, as i feed my fantasy; but that is another business.
If i may express a (second) personal opinion, i don't like to use the term "bilbo", and neither do the Spaniards, i guess. I take it as a "foreignism", not the real thing. Who was him who said: " The current theories place the origin of the name to the city of Bilbao, in the modern Basque Country, in northern Spain, the capital of the actual province of Bizkaia which was a millenary iron-production center and also origin of sword and dagger hilts of fame at that time. It was a part of Spain with traditional trade contacts with Britain, so it's a very likely origin. But fact is that the term is actually used to cover all double-shell hilt swords, and it's specially used to describe what in fact it's the Spanish cavalry Pattern sword M1728, like these: This style was in use, with variations, since mid 17th c, and after being made into a cavalry pattern in 1728 was going to be in service until the beginning of the 19th c. As such, calling this a "bilbo", it's stretching the term a bit too much. In Spain it's called a Cavalry sword M1728, a "double shell" guard sword or a "Horse-mouth" guard sword, because of the similarity of a construction detail of the hilt with a piece of a horse bite. "Bilbo" is an English catch-all word used to very generally refer to the Spanish "Utilitarian" cup-hilt swords, so often found all over America. They usually had a wide, _relatively_ short sturdy and well tempered blades, very practical and unadorned. The grip was more often than not wood, sometimes covered with wire. The term comes from the Spanish Basque city of Bilbao, where a significant number of them were made and exported to the New World. In Basque that name is actually "Bilbo", although there's also a basque town by that name. I understand these swords were also sold to merchants of every european nation, including England. The type was very popular aboard ships, where it was used on a similar role as the cutlass was among other nations. Needless to say, this sword was also used in Europe, but curiously, seem to have survived better in America. Probably because in the colonies these were better taken care of, since they were more difficult to acquire, and thus more valuable. "Bilbo" if often misused by neophytes to refer to *any* spanish sword ". |
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#2 |
Arms Historian
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 10,192
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LOL!
The point of the reference to boca de caballo (actually I first learned it from you some years ago but do not recall the source you gave)was to illustrate that the bilobate shells were certainly around LONG before the so called 1728 pattern. The Pappenheimer rapiers were similar in a sense as I described because of the shell position in the hilt configuration, and these were of course used during the Thirty Years war in Germany and its environs. The name game is just that, and it is the obsession of collectors to appoint catchy names to certain weapon types, much in the way weapons are often nicknamed in military contexts colloquially. The Pappenheimer appellation is of course referring to a commander of armies in the Thirty Years war who is presumed to have favored this design rapier. With the 'bilbo' term, of course it too is a 'collectors' term, but seems to have deeper associations in use in Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor" where the term refers to a rapier with fine steel blade (Biscayan iron) so its use appears to extend to latter 16th c. It is interesting to note that the term 'bilboes' also may refer to a bar of iron with sliding fetters attached, a kind of shackles used to hold prisoners etc and thought to refer to the city of Bilbao where these may have first been made. Perhaps this association of iron bars may be a visual association much as with the horses bridle bit (pun intended). Whatever the case, it seems a colloquial term which as often is the case, became collectively used for a range of Spanish swords. I believe we have quite thoroughly digressed from Midelburgo's example. ![]() |
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 264
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I have some opinions on the Boca de caballo/shells hilts. The first curious thing is that you do not find them in Spanish swords prior to 1650s.
Searching for phylogenetic relations, the most similar examples are Swedish, for example the sword Gustav Adolf took to his death at Lützen (1632). These swords were often made at the Netherlands, but the flat quillons turned in opposite directions are typical Swedish. Spanish Cavalry sword hilts that preceded the 1728 model could be a simplification of the two shells civilian rapier hilt. This one sometimes is found with military blades, like the first example below. These were probably made also in Germany. Usually these hilts have very thin civilian blades (third picture). I suspect in some cases the hilts were reused at a later date, as for second picture, with typical pre-1728/1728 blade, grip and pommel. On ocassion, I have seen these hilts as been made in Brescia, but I am not sure that info is reliable. Maybe it arised from the blade the sword had at the moment. However, unrelated to the Swedish or other Northern types (pappenheimers), it is posible the 2-shell rapiers did derive from the cup hilt rapier, through intermediate, lobated hilts, as shown in pictures 4 to 8. The earliest isolated examples of Spanish cup hilts are from the 1630s. They became popular towards 1650s, and the 2 shell rapiers started about 1660s. There are also rougher military versions, one of the 3 types of the so-called Caribbean rapiers, last two pictures (but rather common soldier infantry and navy swords). Cup hilts and shell hilts remained in use in Spain and colonies up to the Napoleonic wars. If the present rapier is Spanish (German made) the usual civilian Spanish one would have been one of those with the bridges and the engraved dogs (next to other less common representations). This rapier could be some kind of transition piece, as it does not have studs, bolts or screws, as do the pre-1728 and 1728s but not the 2 shell rapiers. The Boca de caballo cavalry swords have often blades marked "En Alemania, " "En Solingen" and by the smiths "Enrique Coel" "Gio Knegt" in different spellings. The topic rapier is soaked now in mineral oil as the guardapolvo had active rust. Last edited by midelburgo; 11th November 2019 at 02:52 PM. |
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