I'm right there with you, Jim and 'Nando, on these magnificent swords. Sorry to be a late-comer, have been away for a bit. What a beautiful cup-hilt! I'm always amazed at how you find these pieces, my friend. I would kill to have one (well, maybe just maim-
). I've never seen this form of grip material or patterning before on one of these. Jim, I've never heard of this practice of making fake shagreen. Fascinating process, but I wonder why they make it so complicated? Rayskin seemed common enough on other Euro pieces of the times. In any case, I'm glad you spoke of it, as I'll file the info away for future reference.
The "nails" in the grip seem very interesting to me and seem to have an oriental look to me. As Jim pointed out, I know that there was a great interest of such things during this time period. Even the flat pommel strikes me as different from the typical cup-hilt. In any case, what a fine sword!
Soooo, now we know the trick to elicit a response from Jim. Start off with a pic of a nice cup-hilt before segueing to another subject! So, it will be like 'thanks for responding, Jim. Now, your opinion on narwhale tusks used on Claimore hilts!'
