Basket Hilt Circa 1700

[Sir Didymous]

While scrolling down my Facebook I happened across this post and thought that there my be some on here that would find it interesting. http://art-of-swords.tumblr.com/post...rd-dated-circa

[MacRob]

While scrolling down my Facebook I happened across this post and thought that there my be some on here that would find it interesting. http://art-of-swords.tumblr.com/post...rd-dated-circa

Interesting sword. It appears to be from the 1700 era as stated but lacks a lot of the artistic features and quality of Scottish swords from that time. I thought it was interesting that the company quoted Sir Walter Scott regarding swords. Sir Walter, while he deserves a lot of credit for the revival of Highland Culture - albeit in a mostly unrecognizable form for the true Highlanders of pre-1745 - was definitely not a good source of information on weapons. Andrea Ferara was most likely a trademark rather than an actual person as no acceptable evidence of his existence has ever been found. There were numerous spellings so the fact that it is "misspelled" on the blade in question means nothing at all regarding the legitimacy of the blade. The manufacture of sword blades was never big in Scotland. Even as far back as the early two-handers, most of the blades were made on the Continent, in Germany primarily but also in Flanders, Spain and even in Italy, the supposed home of Andrea Ferara.

[Sir Didymous]

Yeah, I don't read much into the information they provide as it is museum plate information at best and sales catalog info at worst. I do love their mission though. Their goal is to bring swords and related items to people's attention as the works of art that many are.

[MacRob]

The more I look at this sword the less inclined I am to think it is Scottish-made. There are several reasons, starting with the basket. The "S" Hilt is a type and I have looked at A LOT of them! This one is different from every one I have ever seen in ways that make me question its origin. First the side guards appear to be a bird in flight. On nearly every "S" Hilt the side guards are shaped like ram's horns (picture a ram with two almost circular horns) surmounting a heart, either pierced or solid. An example of what I am talking about can be found in the photo of my personal sword posted in another thread this past weekend.There are exceptions but that shape is found not just on "S" Hilts but on most Scottish basket hilts of the 17th and 18th centuries. The piercings on the main knuckle guards are nothing more than holes. Not typical at all. There is a heart piercing on the main front guard but it is the only one on the basket. The workmanship and decoration on the guards is very crude; in fact, aside from the holes there really isn't any decoration. There is no filing on the bars for example which is common among Scottish hilts. The grip is like nothing I have ever seen and probably is not original to the sword (that is not unusual but I would wonder why, if the grip was damaged, it would be replaced with something so foreign to the type of sword). The overall workmanship is crude as evidenced by the view of the blade entering the base of the basket. One could argue that the ravages of time have taken a toll on the hilt but in fact this hilt was crude when it was new.

Here is what I think it might be: 1) a Victorian era basket made to replace a damaged basket on the pre-Culloden blade. I think this is quite likely to be what it is but there are other possiblities; 2) an English basket hilt. Many English hilts resembled the Scottish product in terms of decoration and workmanship but a lot of them were quite plain, 3) A 20th c. copy. This last option also calls into question the authenticity of the blade. The stamping of the name is pretty clear and there does not "seem" to be any corrosion in the letters. That would indicate the blade was stamped after the blade aged or was aged. The font of the stamp looks authentic and there were many different makers producing Andrea Ferara blades in the 17th and 18th centuries and various fonts were used. Over all the corrosion on the blade is very even throughout. That doesn't usually happen to sword blades.

I am probably totally wrong about this but I do enjoy a mystery and the research it takes to form an opinion. Every time I see a new basket hilt I get a thrill but in this case I wasn't sure from the start what it was.