Schiavona - The one that got away

[fernando]

I am not an auction bidder. The sword i am showing here is not one that got away but one i had and did let go.
Someone called this example a proto schiavona.


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[Philip]

Fernando, this is quite an interesting sword. A friend in Canada has one with the same style of guard, and he calls it a "proto-schiavona" too since its construction is even simpler than the earliest recognizable schiavona hilt, the Oakeshott Type 1. His sword has a cat's head pommel but from its material (bronze) and workmanship (domed center with well-worked beaded deco, contrasting with a very plain hilt), we think it's a later replacement on an older sword.

What I find intriguing about your (former) example is that the pommel is not the Venetian feline at all. It's rather Scottish-looking, more precisely the biconical Type V as shown in Cyril Mazansky's excellent book, British Basket-Hilted Swords (2005) pp 22- 23, 78. Do you recall if there was a small groove on the lower, inverted "cone" of your pommel? Typically, that retained the edge of the basket hilt on those Scottish swords.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Philip

... Do you recall if there was a small groove on the lower, inverted "cone" of your pommel? Typically, that retained the edge of the basket hilt on those Scottish swords.

No Filipe, i don't recall such detail, neither i have pictures taken in that angle; this took place back in 2012.
But i wouldn't discard the possibility that this pommel was a replacement. I tried to recuperate the post (?) where i had the opinion about the 'proto', to check on further possible details but ... no results.