Wow, one of the most beautiful sword i have seen here, every time i look at arms& armour works, iwish to live in the u.s.a,

damn the import taxes...

the finished product is simply grand Roger. Hope a review is in order.

(sorry for the late response. - my wife has been in hospital all week)




Bill

Congratulations sir, that sword is simply gorgeous.

I’ve had the sword for more than a week. Here are some thoughts.

First, some dimensions: (in inches)

Blade length – 32
Overall Length – 38.75
Blade Width at hilt – 1.375
Blade Width at 3.75 from tip – 1.250 – not much profile taper – then it curves in to the point.

Blade thickness at hilt - .185
Just below ricasso - .160 (The ricasso is about ½ inch long)
– 5 inches down blade - .145
- 10 inches down blade - .145
– 15 inches down blade - .145
– 20 inches down blade - .130
– 25 inches down blade - .110
- 30 inches down blade - .100

COG – 3.5
COP - 22
Weight – 2.8 lbs

It’s interesting, that from 5 to 15 inches the blade stays at the same thickness. Overall distal taper is 54%.

Handling: The sword feels like it weighs more that 2.8 lbs. This is probably caused by the fact that there is almost no profile, and a rather unusual (to me) distal taper. At first I was unhappy that it didn’t feel as handy as a Tinker or ATrim blade, but after a few days, my arm, wrist, and fingertips have adjusted to it, and it has started to feel pretty good. It is definitely more cut than thrust. I have a midsized hand, and it just brushes up against the outboard hilt-branch. It’s lucky that the loops on that branch are so subtle – the lobes on many 17th century hilts resemble abacus beads, and would have scraped the back of my hand.

Appearance: This sword is, of course, extravagantly beautiful. Whoever designed the original 17th century hilt was a real artist. One would think that with so much hilt work on the outboard side, and only one scroll on the inboard side, that the sword would look unbalanced, but it just looks incredibly interesting. Unfortunately, most of the photos I have show the outboard side where most of the scrolls and branches are prominent. If I ever get a digital camera, I will post some photographs of other angles. This sword looks great from every viewpoint..

I think that bluing the hilt may have been a mistake. It still looks great, but some features, especially on the pierced plates are somewhat obscured. If anyone wants to get this sword from A&A, you may want to leave the hilt unblued, or put a subtler finish on it. I also haven’t made up my mind about whether the thumb ring/loop is a help or if it gets in the way. The original doesn’t have one, but I am a thumb ring nut and asked A&A to put one on the hilt.

The scabbard: I got the $95.00 scabbard which is OK. I always think that any new sword that I buy will fit one of the scabbards that I already have, but it never works out. This case was no exception – it didn’t fit one of my better looking scabbards. :mad:

In closing I’d like to thank some people for their help and/or encouragement in the creation of this sword – forumites Nathan Robinson and Justin King – also Stuart Ivinson of the Royal Armouries Museum at Leeds, and of course Craig Johnson and everyone else at Arms and Armor for going the extra mile in making this sword a functional work of art.

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From 1678 - The kind of soldier who might have had the original

Roger,

Thanks for posting your thoughts about the sword! I absolutely love this piece. The handling sounds like something that I'd really like. I don't personally care for the overly agile sword replicas that are often created. They wouldn't really correctly represent this type of sword so I'm happy to hear that it handles as it does.

I agree with you about the blackening. I think that a cold blue would have been my choice. I'd have then polished it back to gray again, leaving some darkening in the recesses and emphasizing the shaping rather than making it more subtle. Having said that, it still looks fantastic blackened and likely similar to many pieces of the period of the antique that inspired your sword. In fact, I think the aesthetics are very much in line with that era and type of weapon.

Attached are some additional photos of your piece that Craig took.

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Copyright Arms & Armor

Congratulations Roger as this looks great and I sort of like the bluing but I would reserve judgement to seeing a blued and one in the white next to each other.

Handling is interesting and since the total weight of the sword is very manageable a little more presence can be a good thing for a cutting sword or at least a sword where cutting is as important as thrusting.

Some presence is also good in feeling the sword in the bind or having it difficult to displace by the opponent's sword I think.

My work and travel schedule has not permitted me much access to myArmoury for quite some time. When I finally saw this piece today, I just had to add my belated 2 cents worth. This is a beautiful piece of art by A&A representing one of my favorite forms. I would like very much to have a piece like this in my own collection. CONGRATULATIONS!

Josh Maxwell wrote:

Roger Hooper wrote: I'd like your opinions on this. You can see the remains of gilding on the pierced plates on the original HH sword. Do you think that having A&A recreate that on their version would have enhanced or detracted from the sword's appearance? Personally, I like the look of the sword's components as they are now, with the addition of the blueing I think that the final result will be stunning. By putting the gilding on, I feel it may push the sword over the top and may look too gaudy. Just my two cents, but I'm a fan of little to no embellishment.

I also like the blued components as they are now, without the gilding. But for the time in which the original was made, you probably needed the gilding to make a proper fashion statement.

Thanks, Steve

Steve Grisetti wrote:

I also like the blued components as they are now, without the gilding. But for the time in which the original was made, you probably needed the gilding to make a proper fashion statement.

Considering that the original was made during the reigns of Charles II of Britain and Louis XIV of France, any fashion statement would be one of conspicuous excess.

Better like it is

Roger,

I think that the blackening will grow on you over time. I have owned A&A's Dresden rapier for around five years or so and the finish just becomes more attractive and subtle as it ages. The high spots have mellowed to a very attractive purple-bronze colour with the recesses staying very dark over a field of plum brown. If I were any kind of photographer I would post some pictures but nothing I have taken do the finish justice.

The latest auction at Herman Historica had one sword that reminded me if yours.
Some similar elements and some different.
69:th auction, November 2014. Lot Nr 3318
I can't get a link or pictures to work... But here is the text:

Schwerter, Degen und Rapiere
Lot Nr. 3318
A heavy German campaign sword, circa 1680
Long, double-edged blade of diamond section, the obverse ricasso with crescent moon mark. Asymmetrical knuckle-bow hilt set off by balusters and with tendril-shaped reinforcements, the guard plates with fine openwork. Original iron wire wrap with Turk's heads. Slightly faceted globular pommel attached to the knuckle bows with screws. Length 106.5 cm.
Beautifully preserved sword, original in all parts.

http://www.hermann-historica.de/db2_en/newauction.html

Wow, that is a beautiful sword!

I agree Roger, your sword is the best looking one.
It, got all the best elements combined in one hilt.

Finally a picture of the sword from Herman Historica.
[ Linked Image ]