Renaissance executioner sword from Germany

[Reichsritter]

Originally Posted by Mauro

Many thanks to all of you for these very interesting informations. I am always surprised from the many simbols are hidden in an old sword. I enlarged the photos of the shield and I can note that the horizontal bars are surely 9. I checked the coat of arms of Saxony in wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Saxony) and it has 9 stripes so many many thanks. One of the coat of arm seems surely Saxony. I don't know the meaning of the other but I shall continue to search in that direction.

Hi Mauro, All Saxon coat of arms are always barry of 10 Sable (black) and Or (gold)...regardless of branch, or period from duchy, Kingdom until it became a state. The coat of arms on your sword I noticed has barry of 8 (8 bars horizontal). This interests me since such shield are used by the Lords of Kuenring. If you can wikipedia the coat of arms of the Princes of Liechtenstein you will notice on the 2nd quarter a similar shield with 8 bars of yellow and black. This signify their Kuenring ancestry. No conclusion on my part but just an observation.