with double-edged blade of flattened-diamond section, stamped with the sacred trigram ‘IHS’ between two decorative marks within a short fuller on each face, rectangular ricasso incised with two ‘S’ marks and engraved with lines at the borders, iron hilt of square-section bars interrupted by stepped globular mouldings, comprising a pair of straight quillons with bulbous stepped terminals of square section, écusson, a pair of ring-guards, the lower joined by a pair of arms to the upper and the latter with a bifurcated arm joining the arm and knuckle-guard respectively, inner-guard of a single bar, thumb-loop, and robustly fluted bun-shaped pommel decorated with a trellis design over its surface (the iron parts with light pitting), and later grip of plaited wire between ‘Turk’s Heads’, 102.0 cm

Provenance

The Bruce Axt Collection

The hilt is a rare variant of Norman type 50. A rapier with a closely related hilt was formerly in the J. F. Winsbury Collection. See Norman p. 121 and plate 19.