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Originally Posted by Marc
Well... Ok, the inscription is horribly done... but that's it. Inscribed with a flat chisel and a round punch, probably. Plus the fleur-de-lis stamp, of course. It might be even period, done as an afterthought or by/for a Catholic user or who knows why. Or a sad atempt by a late dealer to add some kind of distinctive feature to a weapon of quite a common typology. And, yes, the wiring of the hilt is also probably a replacement (having it on hand would allow us to see how well the turk's heads fit, for example, as a gauge for this possibility).
But, to be frank, the rest of it looks fairly kosher to me. Central Europe, 17th or even 18th century, "Walloon"-type hilt.
Oh, and, of course, it isn't a rapier 
Just another opinion, of course  |
I have to agree with Marc, personally I think the inscription was a fraudulent attempt to increase its value, but, that is just an opinion, its a shame that an antique is vandalised if this is the case.
If you look at the inscription, the first two letters are relatively 'clean' and evenly spaced....then suddenly it becomes a bit haphazard. Unless the 'engraver' had a very short attention span and lost 'interest'
. Likely, it was thought 'too neat' and to try and make it look 'more period' the inscription was continued in a 'rougher' style
Also the blade area around the inscription is much 'cleaner', near the hilt is untouched, as is the area just after it (inscription) (not so noticeable in the pic below) I think that more signs of corrosion within the 'troughs' of the lettering would also be apparent
Regards David