Strange signs on the blade of a rapier

Jim McDougall · 12th June 2022, 02:27 PM

You're welcome Udo, but I wish I could offer some more definitive info.
It has always intrigued me that these secret societies or groups, and often religious fraternities etc. used compilations of ancient alphabetic characters and occult symbols, devices and symbols to create coded invocations etc.

Im sure you are well aware of the strange acrostic style messages that seem to have occurred a lot on 16th-17th century blades from Italy, especially Caino.

The well known 'sickle' marks, while commonly known to be used singly on North Italian blades (but usually regarded as Genoan) seem to also have been used in somewhat stylized arrangements and configurations. Sometimes these would occur in a sort of 'panel' like your example, or along with other symbols. I suppose one could wonder whether these had some sort of arcane meaning or were characters in some arcane code used by a select group.

There was a fascination with 'the ancients' that appealed to this sort of mysticism in these times, with the later evolution of the Freemasons being one resounding exemplar of this phenomenon.

As always, I look forward to other thoughts and observations. Meanwhile, it is a nice example rapier, and the mystery adds to its allure!

12th June 2022, 02:27 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	You're welcome Udo, but I wish I could offer some more definitive info. It has always intrigued me that these secret societies or groups, and often religious fraternities etc. used compilations of ancient alphabetic characters and occult symbols, devices and symbols to create coded invocations etc. Im sure you are well aware of the strange acrostic style messages that seem to have occurred a lot on 16th-17th century blades from Italy, especially Caino. The well known 'sickle' marks, while commonly known to be used singly on North Italian blades (but usually regarded as Genoan) seem to also have been used in somewhat stylized arrangements and configurations. Sometimes these would occur in a sort of 'panel' like your example, or along with other symbols. I suppose one could wonder whether these had some sort of arcane meaning or were characters in some arcane code used by a select group. There was a fascination with 'the ancients' that appealed to this sort of mysticism in these times, with the later evolution of the Freemasons being one resounding exemplar of this phenomenon. As always, I look forward to other thoughts and observations. Meanwhile, it is a nice example rapier, and the mystery adds to its allure!