Spanish or German

[fernando]

Punzón (singular) Punzones (Plural); a term meaning punch, puncture, pricker, marker.
Here is one of those Punzones de Espadero, a survival from those Toledan glorious days !


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[Jim McDougall]

Keith, I wish I had good tips on conservation but I seldom do much cleaning etc except for WD40 to stabiliize and perhaps some very fine steel wool. Easy does it as you dont want to compromise any existing marks. For some reason I thought you had seen the Hernandez punzone at the ricasso as per Palomares.
As mentioned, I have always thought that his punzone was not copied on German blades.

While the Germans did adopt the the multi bar 'anchor' (much like somewhat exaggerated cross of Lorraine) the character of the anchor on this blade seems to me in accord with those on earlier Spanish rapier blades as noted.

For me, everything so far with this blade suggests it is indeed Spanish, and incarnated with an early 17th century English cavalier rapier hilt, as was very much in vogue then, remarkable!

[urbanspaceman]

As Fernando remarked earlier in this thread, the image of what I thought was the typical Hernandes punzone was very poor (vendor) and I saw what I wanted to see.
I approached the ricasso inside the dish with some white spirit, as I have found most black discoloration is old preserving oils or waxes - or both - and a lot of the muck did indeed come off; enough to indicate there was no marking beneath it.
The mark I posted earlier today is from the lower end of the fuller (on both sides). I have seen quite a few that are similar, but not one that is an exact match (see pics). That, along with the name, is the only indication of provenance.
ps
I will comment once again on the peculiarity of the Es in the script (example top pic). I have seen them on several swords. They are embellished and flamboyant to the point of obscuring the meaning; this is despite all the other letters being relatively normal (by English standards - I hasten to add).