Portuguese rapier blades

urbanspaceman · 12th September 2023, 12:36 PM

Thank-you Gentleman.
This may well explain why I am puzzled.
The reason I considered re-hilts was because of the length of the brass hilted version which has a 40" blade; obviously well beyond the common smallsword parameters.
The silver hilt, however, is 31" and as such is within said parameters but has an identical blade profile to the 40" one, so I assumed there was a category of sword of which I was unfamiliar.
Again, however... that brass hilt is actually very, very big, so it may well have been commissioned for a big fellow wanting a proportionate length to his weapon.
The other reason was the dating issue:
they are very late 1700s hilts are they not? If so, I was puzzled as to why they were fitted to blade styles I thought (and here you must pardon my inexperience and ignorance) had long since gone out of fashion after the arrival of the 'hollow' blades.
I look forward to corrections and augments.

12th September 2023, 12:36 PM	#4
urbanspaceman Member Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Tyneside. North-East England Posts: 688	response Thank-you Gentleman. This may well explain why I am puzzled. The reason I considered re-hilts was because of the length of the brass hilted version which has a 40" blade; obviously well beyond the common smallsword parameters. The silver hilt, however, is 31" and as such is within said parameters but has an identical blade profile to the 40" one, so I assumed there was a category of sword of which I was unfamiliar. Again, however... that brass hilt is actually very, very big, so it may well have been commissioned for a big fellow wanting a proportionate length to his weapon. The other reason was the dating issue: they are very late 1700s hilts are they not? If so, I was puzzled as to why they were fitted to blade styles I thought (and here you must pardon my inexperience and ignorance) had long since gone out of fashion after the arrival of the 'hollow' blades. I look forward to corrections and augments.