Excavated Small Sword For Comment
 

This Small Sword was part of the collection I inherited from my Father. Most of the excavated items in his collection came from Florida, but I have no real idea where this sword was found. It is in pretty good condition considering it has been in the ground. The grip is missing and the knuckle bow is broken off. The sword seems typical of the French styled small sword that became popular in Europe during the last quarter of the 17th century. They were carried by the officers of many different countries, and were the most popular weapon of the upper class during the 18th century.

Blade length: 23 10/16 inch || 60.007 cm
Blade thickness at forte: 1/4 inch || 0.635 cm
Blade width at forte: 11/16 inch || 1.746 cm
Cup width: 2 10/16 inches at widest point || 6.668 cm
Total length: 29 10/16 inches || 75.247 cm
Point of balance: about 1 3/4 inches from the bottom of the cup || 4.445
Weight: 12 3/8 oz || 0.351 kg

The photos are copyright (c) 2014 by Dana K. Williams. All Rights Are Reserved.

Thank you for adding this interesting smallsword Dana, we don't see many smallswords these days and they are a fascinating field which is highly specialized. This is also intriguing for the rather unusually intact condition considering its excavated classification, and the circumstances of its deposit would be most interesting.

I would point out that the 'cup' in this case would be in my opinion better termed a bilobate shellguard, and these in variation were well known in Europe from the 17th century and 'Walloons ' as well as other hilt forms which evolved into these smallswords by the 18th century.

It would be difficult to determine without markings or intact grip and decoration specifically which country this might be from, as the style as well as often even components were widely diffused. It would seem to be of probably mid 18th century as a speculative benchmark. Naturally, the provenance would be helpful as well, naturally with consideration for noted circumstances of discovery gauged accordingly .

As always Jim, thanks for your insightful comments.

Interesting that you should mention the Walloons. The Huguenots played a large roll in the founding of Florida in 1562 and 1565. There were also a lot of French in what became British West Florida after the Treaty of Paris in 1763.