01 Cup-hilt Rapier, Spain, 17th century

Fotogalerie

The sword or rapier with a cup-hilt is the last major development of this type of weapon. Spanish masters created it sometime in the early 17^th century. Its shape probably did not even originate in Spain. Similar elements appear on the swords of Swedish and German officers in the early years of the Thirty Years' War. However, Spain with its usual perfection, developed the shape of this weapon into a stylistically pure work of swordsmanship. Regular coils of fine branches with tiny leaves were cut in the walls of the cup-hilt, touching each other so that the interstices between them formed the loops of a solid iron lattice. The blades of cup-hilt rapiers have sharp, deep grooves, often also cut through with a series of decorative holes to lighten the long blade.

Straight blade, double-edged, with a flattened diamond cross-section. In the upper half on both sides there are two grooves, identically marked VALENCIA four times. On the ricasso, we can see the letter F stamped under the crown on both sides. Iron, a massive cup-hilt with richly incised floral ornamentation. The knuckleguard of the hilt of prismatic cross-section transitions into a straight guard with the ends of the guard and the arch spirally twisted. The wooden grip is covered with (originally purple) fabric and reinforced with four iron rods. The pommel is spherical, slightly flattened, with rich embossed decoration.

Length 1 156 mm, blade length 963 mm, blade width 22 mm, weight 938 g.