Takouba with a 16th century blade?

[Marc M.]

This takouba came in yesterday. bought from a French antique dealer with 40 years of experience in mostly Euopean swords, etc. According to him, this is a 16th century blade from Germany, Solingen. To my question from where do you deduce that:The dimensions, structure of the steel, a nervous/ flex blade, the 3 fullers and the marks is to him representative of the 16th century.I have zero experience with 16th century blades and only limited experience with takouba's, but found that this blade is standard European, 19th century, early 20th. What particularly attracted me was that the blade had lived. Many decades of use, sharpening and cleaning shaped the blade as it is today. It has a good flex, the dukari marks are almost gone on one side, other side still fairly visible and of a good quality, maybe European. handle, crossguard and pommel look old to me but rather 20th century. Hopefully Iain will pick up this post as in 2010 he posted, a big happy takouba family, a takouba along with a few others very similar to mine. At first I thought it was the sword I bought but still found some differences. Iain's sword has not been discussed so maybe this can be done now, should it still be in his possession.
Regards
Marc