A FINE GERMAN SWORD-RAPIER, LAST QUARTER OF THE 16TH CENTURY

A FINE GERMAN SWORD-RAPIER, LAST QUARTER OF THE 16TH CENTURY with straight blade of flattened-diamond section, signed by the bladesmith within a slender fuller on each face (including 'Andrea', partly indistinct), rectangular ricasso engraved with lines at the borders and struck with four bladesmith's marks, blackened iron hilt of rounded bars, comprising a pair of horizontally recurved quillons swelling towards the terminals, upper ring-guard swelling in the centre, lower ring-guard formed en suite and joined to the upper by a pair of arms, a pair of écusson, trifurcated inner-guard joined to the quillon-block by a thumb-loop, spherical pommel, early fishskin-covered wooden grip (binding missing), and the hilt retaining much early blued finish throughout 110.5 cm; 43 1/2 in blade Provenance Baron Hans de Schultheis (1885-1951) An almost identical sword, probably from the same series, is preserved in the Royal Armouries, Turin. Another was sold In this room, 26th June 2007, lot 153 and another, formerly in the Peter Parsons Collection, was sold Bonhams, Knightsbridge 20th July 2011, lot 116. The hilt conforms to Norman type 43, see Norman 1986, pp. 140-1.