Small Sword with long triangular blade

[Roland_M]

Hello,

Probably an Italien, French or English small sword from the early to mid XVIII th century.
It has a lovely pierced steel hilt with a twisted wire on the grip and a hollow pommel.
The whole sword is made from steel, it's steel in steel. Thats the way I like it!

With 35" or 89.5cm the laminated blade (refined steel) is quite long for a small sword,
the effective length is ~93cm, the whole length 107cm.

The most interesting Feature for me on this sword is the light weight.
When I first put it on my weighing machine, I thought I need new batteries.
I used my precision balance and the sword weighs indeed only 435.1 Gram or 15.4 oz after the restoration
I removed a lot of rust from the handle and gave a new finish to the corroded blade.
The loss of weight from my restoration is only 0.8 Gram of steel, thats ok for me.

This is a real old duell sword, the blade is slightly bended, it has many nicks and the point is worn.
I added a picture of the grip wire. How many duels does it take until the wire is worn-out like this? The pattern of abrasion allows me to understand how the sword was hold in hand. Requires a pretty strong hand. The fact that one or more noblemen used this sword for duels is most exiting for me. In my opinion the real duels were much harder, more powerful and dynamic than in the movies.

I made one picture together with a rapier, the development is clearly visible.
The small sword looks almost modern and weighs less than half of the rapier (~1000 Gram and 435 Gram).
In a duel the rapier duelist has pretty bad cards and will probably lose ~8 or more out of 10 duels, because the small sword is as quick as a flash and got more stiffness.

Compared to the modern Cold Steel Small Sword, the old sword is 10cm or 4" longer but also 265 Gram (9 oz) lighter than the modern reproduction.
This old original outclasses the modern CS small sword in every point, especially in length and ergonomics.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and I also hope to read many comments.

Roland

[cornelistromp]

very nice small sword, if I remember correctly, I had this particular small sword in my collection and I have sold via ebay +- 15 years ago.

I remember how light it was as if it is made of aluminum.

the grip is not complete how it is now, there probably originally was a thin filigree/twisted threads or flat metal ribbon trims between the thicker wires.

best,
Jasper

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by cornelistromp

very nice small sword, if I remember correctly, I had this particular small sword in my collection and I have sold via ebay +- 15 years ago.

I remember how light it was as if it is made of aluminum.

the grip is not complete how it is now, there probably originally was a thin filigree/twisted threads or flat metal ribbon trims between the thicker wires.

best,
Jasper

Hello Jasper,

thank you for your comment, very interesting to hear, that this was your sword some years ago.
One side of the loose hand guard is in good condition, the other side is badly rusted and has a hole. Maybe this helps.

I also think, that some of the finer grip wires got lost.

But still a perfect duel sword.


Regards,
Roland

[cornelistromp]

Originally Posted by Roland_M

Hello Jasper,

thank you for your comment, very interesting to hear, that this was your sword some years ago.
One side of the loose hand guard is in good condition, the other side is badly rusted and has a hole. Maybe this helps.

I also think, that some of the finer grip wires got lost.

But still a perfect duel sword.


Regards,
Roland

yes that's the one, I remember a hole (or small restoration ?) there was also an oxidation spot with raw surface on the blade, if I remember well.

best,

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by cornelistromp

yes that's the one, I remember a hole (or small restoration ?) there was also an oxidation spot with raw surface on the blade, if I remember well.

best,

Yes there was an oxidation spot on around 40% of the blade length. The spot is visible in the pictures. After some years of restoring experience I know how to remove such spots without much loss. Before my restoration the spot was black and at least twice as big.

Thank you very very much that you sold this awesome small sword indirectly to me!


best,
Roland

[Sajen]

Hi Roland,

since I've have had the privilege to handle your small sword I can say that the iron workmanship is outstanding. And the light weight when you handle it is very impressive! Great catch!

Best,
Detlef