Jim, thank you for posting this most interesting sword. The hilt looks like what Ewart Oakeshott describes as a Type 2 schiavona in “European Weapons and Armour” (1989). I therefore wonder if the hilt might be older than the blade? I’m under the impression that the second half of the 18thC is more associated with Types 2a and 2b schiavonas, which also tend to have bronze cat’s head pommels.
Do you think that the sword was used by Slavic/Slavonian mercenaries in employ of the King of Naples/Two Sicilies, or do you think that the schiavona hilt by then simply had become a widespread fashionable hilt style on the European continent and used by varied nationalities?
Oakeshott mentions Slavic/Slavonian mercenaries in employ by the Italians, called Stradioti, and Spanish (Naples) called Estradiotas in the 15thC. I think these were probably more of Greek/Albanian origin, but later in the 17thC Venice employed Slavic mercenaries from Dalmatia and Montenegro who were presumably the main users of the schiavona sword. Not sure what type of swords the Stradioti would have used.
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