Brothers from a different bladesmith - Two quite similar small swords

[Rapier's Delight]

Thank you for the warm welcome Jelle and Teodor, happy to have joined, and I do miss the vibe of old-school forums, so it's nice to experience it once again.

Jelle, your considerations match what I have been thinking almost perfectly. As far as I can tell, most of the characteristics on these two point to 17th century early small swords, but the disk guard is certainly a bit puzzling.

The peen does seem to be less patinated than the rest of the pommel, so it's definitely possible there was a re-hilting at some point whether to change the blade or simply to change the guard I do not know.

As for the guard, It has been cleaned together with the rest of the hilt, so any consistency between parts is possibly misleading.
I get what you mean by its resemblance to cut steel, but the decorative buttons on this one are not faceted, or very crudely, if so. Also, they are not "riveted" in place through the baseplate as most of the cut steel studs I am aware of.

For this one I am leaning towards a generally 17th century piece with a guard that was substituted at some point between the appearance of disk guards and the rise of the cut steel trend, so maybe mid 18th century?
Of course it could very well be a "poor man's" attempt at cut steel, as far as I can speculate.

As for the timing of the rework, I have the feeling it is of the time, as the sword feels consistent and usable, and is strikingly similar to the other, more age appropriate one. This makes me think that the change was not done to simply assemble random pieces for display, but rather as an "upgrade" to a sword that kept usability and overall ergonomics and geometry in mind.

Happy to hear what anyone else thinks!