Old Spanish Colonial Sword with Inscription

Ian · 18th March 2006, 09:55 PM

A few years back I posted pictures of a double-edged Spanish Colonial sword with the inscription "Recuerdo Republicano" (In Memory of the Republican) on the blade. That thread is here: http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001235.html

Jim McDougall provided an elegant description of Spanish colonial swords in that thread, considering this one to be a Philippine origin, and drew attention to the similarity of the sword to the espada ancha of Mexico.

I found Jim's comments quite persuasive. However, I'm reviving the topic because I received a note from another collector who believes that the sword is more likely Mexican since it does not resemble Filipino sword blades of that period -- notably the triangular cross section of the blade -- while the leather sheath is not of Visayan origin (as suggested on the previous thread). I'm happy to accept the non-Visayan attribution of the sheath -- it could be from many places -- but I'm not so sure about the Mexican claim.

So I thought that I would put the pictures up again and ask our current Forumites for their opinions about likely origins.

And who was the "Republican" likely to have been?

Ian.

18th March 2006, 09:55 PM	#1
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,198	Old Spanish Colonial Sword with Inscription A few years back I posted pictures of a double-edged Spanish Colonial sword with the inscription "Recuerdo Republicano" (In Memory of the Republican) on the blade. That thread is here: http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001235.html Jim McDougall provided an elegant description of Spanish colonial swords in that thread, considering this one to be a Philippine origin, and drew attention to the similarity of the sword to the espada ancha of Mexico. I found Jim's comments quite persuasive. However, I'm reviving the topic because I received a note from another collector who believes that the sword is more likely Mexican since it does not resemble Filipino sword blades of that period -- notably the triangular cross section of the blade -- while the leather sheath is not of Visayan origin (as suggested on the previous thread). I'm happy to accept the non-Visayan attribution of the sheath -- it could be from many places -- but I'm not so sure about the Mexican claim. So I thought that I would put the pictures up again and ask our current Forumites for their opinions about likely origins. And who was the "Republican" likely to have been? Ian.