German Hunting swords , thoughts and facts

[Akanthus]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

Jim will recognise this piece and I have to agree with his suggestion that it was a sea-service weapon.
The weight of the blade however, and its thickness, does lend it to hacking at animal limbs rather than sailors: it is four centimeters wide at the hilt and half a centimeter thick with a blade length of fifty centimeters. Anyone have ten cents worth?

This certainly is a fighting weapon not a hunting sword.In the German typology you would call,it "Jaglich gefasst" .It means, that it looks like a hunting sword ( stag horn grip) but it isn't one.In the 18th. and 19th.century it began to become modern to carry huntingweaponlike sidearms in spite not beeing a hunter.I think that in countrys, which a rich naval history ( England ,France,Spain,Portugal etc.)these wepons were often found on the decks of a ship,because they were practical of their relatively shortness .