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Old 13th November 2025, 05:45 PM   #2
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 10,676
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As always repurposed and ersatz alterations are hard to peg, and often reliable provenance are the best ways to try to estimate. The hilt, and guard seem like earlier hunting hangers around mid 18th c. and for that matter the remains of forte motif seem to suggest same.
What seems to suggest the Spanish influence is the slight uptick in the clipped type point, often derisively termed the 'frog sticker' by frontiersmen in the 19th c. ..a feature often seen on espada anchas of Mexican period post 1821.

The face on the pommel cap suggests probably British or possibly German hilt.

Lots of unique shops in Labeena Gooch (as we called it in the day) and one of my first 'Spanish colonial' swords was an old dragoon sword, in a boutique window, but festooned with costume jewelry necklaces. As I looked at it, with the blade and 'Spanish motto" ...draw me not without reason...... I was horrified at the disgrace. I bought it for a paltry sum from the owner who saw only a dark old sword, rather than the blade of honor of a now long gone caballero.
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