Strange long rapier

[cel7]

Originally Posted by fernando

cel7, i wonder whether that pdf article is more based on 'true rapiers' (like the picture shown in it) whereas your sword, so wide as it is (42 mm.) falls more onto the cup hilt 'sword' category... so i realize .
As for 'unusual' lengths, call it neighborhood syndrome, the Portuguese also dealt with such long 'off mark' swords, their blades eventually reaching 132 mm. length, as per known examples.

Thanks for your message Fernando! I also noticed that its very wide compared to the ones described in the PDF.

Could it, as Jim McDougall wondered, be Spanish colonial or even from Spanish rural regions?

[fernando]

Originally Posted by cel7

... Could it, as Jim McDougall wondered, be Spanish colonial or even from Spanish rural regions? ...

Oh, i will leave that to Jim .

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by fernando

Oh, i will leave that to Jim .

As I noted earlier, with these kinds of anomalies, one can only speculate and evaluate with similar examples in being composite assemblies. As an eternal optimist I always try to find viable explanations, as this suggestion of these remote areas and the desire to 'wear a sword' but having sometimes only old parts or broken swords to work with. While many might consider such gestures silly or misguided, we cannot imagine the effort to emulate the traditions in such remote regions by those who manage to live in these conditions.
In the Mexican frontiers, the people were very aware of Spanish heritage, and virtually everything was recycled or made use of, so crude versions of the earlier weapons does not seem unlikely.

I cannot imagine a dealer or collector trying to pass this example off as a true vintage rapier, thus my suggestion.