Hi Cornelis ... and other dear members
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by cornelistromp
... your blade is definitely a Dutch 18thC small sword blade ...
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This is, in a way, a sort of historic issue
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I have decided to post this blade in SFI, trying to go deep into the maker's mark identification. Suddenly some of its members unleashed the dogs to me, when i said i was assured that the blade was Dutch.
I was chalenged with phrases like "if you have proof of it, just give it" and "the burden of proof is with whoever makes claims of attribution", like if i was making some inquisitorial accusation.
Guys, i thought i was bad but, in the presence of such characters, i felt i would have to go and stand in line to have my chance.
I refrain from telling how this story has ended.
Anyway, i guess this thing of marks in blades, unless you have recorded evidence, is allways discussable; the main reason being that blades are not swords, and swords may be entirely made in a determined nation or have their blades brought/imported from somewhere else.
It might be that this star mark often appears in Dutch blades but, it happens that we can (also) see it in swords recorded in other countries. Now, whether such swords were made entirely in those countries, or actually imported from the Nederlands, or even only had their blades of Dutch origin, is something that i still don't know the means to distinguish.
Concerning the specific example of this thread, i have contacted the Dutch Museum and the curator Harm Stevens kindly gave me the following answer:
It is true that the star on the blade - a so called paternoster? - is often associated with Dutch blades. I am afraid that I haven't succeeded in identifying the mark on the tang..
Meanwhile i have being paging some Portuguese books and auction catalogues, and swords with this type of star mark make a regular appearance. Then again, the fact that they appear in Portugal doesn't impeach that they were imported. Eventually two of the samples i located are tagged as Portuguese, namely one with a typical hilt style ... the so called sail hilt.
Also a certain contact has assured me he has a sword he bought in Portugal, whith a similar star mark on the blade, and with a legend inscribed with an allegory to a Portuguese King.
Adding the fact that the example that gave reason to this thread was bought in Portugal, originating from a fine house collection (seller said), i feel like i am like the fool on the bridge.
BTW, a few days after i bought the blade, the seller told me it had some ugly broken parts mounted in it and, as he 'knew' they had nothing to do with a real sword, he threw them into the trash depot. As i doubted his knowledge, i asked him to try and recuperate them, which he did, and then i found out the parts are the remnants of an actual small sword ... a humble version, but still real parts.
Fernando
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