Dilemma on a bilbo

[werecow]

I just happened to stumble onto this thread just now, but I recognize the sword under discussion as I bid on it last year as well (I recognize the bright patches near the guard)! A good humility check to find out a year later that I was bidding on a reproduction!

I ended up buying this one instead (although not at that auction and from the looks of it after it had undergone a bit of cleaning, so I guess a reseller; pictures attached from the auction site as mine are all blurry due to bad camera).

Now all of a sudden, of course, I'm really hoping there's no 1910 Toledo reproduction with a silver wire grip and facetted pommel marked Sebastian Hernan[d]ez.
Although, either way, it handles like a dream.

[midelburgo]

Hello.
I do not think that is a repro but a very nice officer version. The octogonal pommel and the striated guardapolvo at the bottom of the cup are typical. You can find them as well in royal Guardia de Corps troopers.
Take the Sebastián Hernández inscription as apocriphal until you can compare with well known examples. Madrid royal armory ones for example, or the one that belonged to Alvaro DE Bazan in the naval museum.

[werecow]

Originally Posted by midelburgo

Hello.
I do not think that is a repro but a very nice officer version. The octogonal pommel and the striated guardapolvo at the bottom of the cup are typical. You can find them as well in royal Guardia de Corps troopers.
Take the Sebastián Hernández inscription as apocriphal until you can compare with well known examples. Madrid royal armory ones for example, or the one that belonged to Alvaro DE Bazan in the naval museum.

Thanks, for your thoughts. }|:o) Indeed, I found some quite similar specimens online, like this one and this one. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have felt comfortable buying it! Still, it's good to hear that you agree.

And yes, I took the Hernan[d]ez name as more of a tribute or an attempt at marketing/boasting than it being an original blade by that maker (not in the least because the name is misspelled).

[midelburgo]

It is very nice you got it with a scabbard. the hilt and grip are probably from 1790s. The rings at the grip could be silver or silver plated. I think I recognize the mark at the ricasso as one from Solingen.

[werecow]

Originally Posted by midelburgo

It is very nice you got it with a scabbard.

Yeah, definitely. The scabbard was a large part of why I jumped on it. It does seem to be missing the locket though (see attached image or this one). Perhaps I'll run into one of those at some point.

Originally Posted by midelburgo

The rings at the grip could be silver or silver plated.

I'm not great at recognizing materials and I haven't done any acid tests but both the grip wire and the ferrules/spacers look like silver to me and they are not magnetic, so my guess would be solid rather than plated.