Link from pappenheimer to boca-de-caballo hilt

midelburgo · 26th October 2021, 03:27 PM

This sword is driving me nuts. I found it a month ago in the Canary Islands. Because it is a dangerous pointy object, it cannot travel by plane. So it had to be embarked. Then, the seller stopped communications for two weeks. Today, she reappeared, confirming me the sword is on a boat, and that she went missing because she had to attend business in La Palma due to the volcano.

Pictures are hers. I do not even know at this point if the blade has an inscription.

I would call this a Brescian hilt with a cavalry military blade. Probably from around 1680. I believe Brescian hilts evolved from German shell swords, and these started as a sort of Pappenheimers that were influenced by Swedish cavalry swords, also with two shells (like the one Gustav Adolf was carrying at Lützen).
The Brescian hilts in Spain come in two flavours, both have characteristic decorations in one of the shells. There are delicate rapiers and massive cavalry swords. Usually they have long quillons, but in this example they have been cut down and twisted upside and down, just as those from 1728 Spanish cavalry models (boca-de-caballo), probably because they interfered with fencing from horseback.

There is another field reparation at the knuclebow. Probably this sword saw 30 or more years of battle use. First against the armies of Louis XIV and then fighting alongside them, or maybe with the Habsburg pretender, in the War of the Spanish Succession.

26th October 2021, 03:27 PM	#1
midelburgo Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 257	Link from pappenheimer to boca-de-caballo hilt This sword is driving me nuts. I found it a month ago in the Canary Islands. Because it is a dangerous pointy object, it cannot travel by plane. So it had to be embarked. Then, the seller stopped communications for two weeks. Today, she reappeared, confirming me the sword is on a boat, and that she went missing because she had to attend business in La Palma due to the volcano. Pictures are hers. I do not even know at this point if the blade has an inscription. I would call this a Brescian hilt with a cavalry military blade. Probably from around 1680. I believe Brescian hilts evolved from German shell swords, and these started as a sort of Pappenheimers that were influenced by Swedish cavalry swords, also with two shells (like the one Gustav Adolf was carrying at Lützen). The Brescian hilts in Spain come in two flavours, both have characteristic decorations in one of the shells. There are delicate rapiers and massive cavalry swords. Usually they have long quillons, but in this example they have been cut down and twisted upside and down, just as those from 1728 Spanish cavalry models (boca-de-caballo), probably because they interfered with fencing from horseback. There is another field reparation at the knuclebow. Probably this sword saw 30 or more years of battle use. First against the armies of Louis XIV and then fighting alongside them, or maybe with the Habsburg pretender, in the War of the Spanish Succession. Attached Images Last edited by midelburgo; 26th October 2021 at 03:42 PM.