Basket hilt Sword for discussion

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Me too! especially the resounding response!

Hi,
I totally agree it is a great sword but once an extract from the McDougallpedia has been posted there's not a lot left to say. As always Jim you are a veritable mine of info
My Regards,
Norman.

[SwordLover79]

Gentlemen: I own a number of relevant reference books including "Culloden - The Swords and the Sorrows," "British Basket-Hilted Swords" (Mazansky) and "British Military Swords - Volume I; 1600 - 1660." Even with the books at hand and a growing knowledge of my own, it is always very helpful to have experts such as yourselves share your opinions and views. I truly welcome any feedback. truth be told, it was feedback regarding earlier postings that helped me decide to trade away some swords for the ones I listed recently...

I do have a question for the group: In my antique arms show visits, auction reviews, museum visits and travel I have seen many so called "Sinclair Swords", Tessaks, Dussages, etc. It seems to me that there must be thousands of those swords out there between collectors and museums. Are you aware of a credible reference book focused on those weapons?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Hi,
I totally agree it is a great sword but once an extract from the McDougallpedia has been posted there's not a lot left to say. As always Jim you are a veritable mine of info
My Regards,
Norman.

Thanks Norman, but its never my intent to take up all the air. Actually, I always look this stuff up so as to hopefully be helpful. By compiling what I can, and summarizing what I understand, my hopes are always that others will fill in the blanks, correct what I have wrong, and add to what I have missed.
Basically, hoping for discussion.

I learn by writing out my piles of scribbled notes from the research I do before posting, so my thought is why not share what I have found.
I guess that might be over responding?

My 'knowledge' is comprised simply of hours of digging through notes and books in hopes of writing a useful synopsis concerning the weapon at hand, hardly an encyclopedic knowledge myself.

Thank you for the kind words, and I regret the blunt slip.

All the best
Jim

[Jim McDougall]

S.L,
The question on any work that is specifically to the range of swords that seem to collectively fall into the group, of which the so called 'Sinclair saber' is a good one.
Typically these kinds of weapons actually are more transcendent, that is they have rather evolved contemporarily as essentially combinations of other types of sword.
If I have understood correctly these were combined saber blades, often of heavier type combined with the hilts of field swords (degen) from 16th through 17th c.
Then there is the terminology (name game) which is the variety of German terms, dusack, dusagge basically, as well as the Czech term 'tessak' .
This 'form' of heavy saber was in use into the North Europe regions, including Norway, where it gained the term 'Sinclair' saber in Scottish parlance from the fateful expedition of Scottish mercenaries during Kalmar Wars 1611-1613. The term became colloquially used by Victorian writers for these 'tessak/dusagge' swords commemorating George Sinclair who was killed in those events as he was a prominent clan figure.

As far as I know, only the general arms references including various sword forms refer to these sabers in summary. While broader types such as the basket hilt have works pretty much specific to them, others are typically among the collective studies of sword forms.

These include of course, schiavona, walloon, mortuary, Pappenheimer, et al but the only specific references are usually in the corpus of arms articles in various journals and other published periodical material.
To locate these it takes going through bibliographies and these kinds of sourced material to locate specific references.

Others here far more well versed in references in other languages in Europe may offer some books with more detailed information of course.

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Thanks Norman, but its never my intent to take up all the air. Actually, I always look this stuff up so as to hopefully be helpful. By compiling what I can, and summarizing what I understand, my hopes are always that others will fill in the blanks, correct what I have wrong, and add to what I have missed.
Basically, hoping for discussion.

I learn by writing out my piles of scribbled notes from the research I do before posting, so my thought is why not share what I have found.
I guess that might be over responding?

My 'knowledge' is comprised simply of hours of digging through notes and books in hopes of writing a useful synopsis concerning the weapon at hand, hardly an encyclopedic knowledge myself.

Thank you for the kind words, and I regret the blunt slip.

All the best
Jim

Dear Jim,
My comments were never intended to be a criticism but couched admiration for taking the time and effort to share your knowledge and research. I am sure everybody on the Forum appreciates your input and enthusiasm, I sure do, so long may you keep on doing what you do.
Kind Regards,
Norman.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

...Jim, i am sure everybody on the Forum appreciates your input and enthusiasm ...

Why do you say that, Norman ? Now how do we have to put up whit his stardom ? .

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by fernando

Why do you say that, Norman ? Now how do we have to put up whit his stardom ? .

Hi Fernando,
Don't be modest, you have a star quality yourself which I'm sure is equally appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Norman.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Hi Fernando,
Don't be modest, you have a star quality yourself which I'm sure is equally appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Norman.

Oh ... Norman; i like your Scottish humor .

[Jim McDougall]

Wheres the Drambuie!!!!