[TVV]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Hello Teodor,
The smallsword with the brass boat-shaped hilt is from the German Republics and dates to around 1800-10. I had one very similar a few years back that I had done research on (unfortunately, I don't still have the references to back this assessment, but several others I had been in contact with had also confirmed it). IMHO, the blade, although flimsy, is original to the piece. Many of these, after all, inspired the epee and foils that were to come. The blade on mine was flimsy and particularly plain and strictly for dress.

As far as swapping the hilts...gee, I don't know. I'm sort of a purist when it comes to swords. Composites are not my thing, but that is up to the collector, much as is cleaning a piece, rebluing a blade, firing an old musket, etc.

Mark,

Thank you very much. I agree with you that composites are not a good thing. However, I thought that the smallswords I posted in this thread were composites to start with, and so swapping parts would not have changed much.
Now that I know this is not the case for the German smallsword at least, I will be more than happy to leave it as is.

Again, thank you Sir,

Teodor