[Jim McDougall]

This subject on Caino is much the same as the mystery of ANDREA FERARA and others where names, markings and phrases are used spuriously and in various combinations on blades, all with the allusion of quality in mind.

It seems there were Caino's in Milan, not only Peitro but Francesco (who worked at the sign of the golden lion end of 16th c.) The Picinino's were also in Milan.

Another maker 'Lambertengo' would sign with that name, yet use the S/T of Caino. Another Milanese blade marked Caino was with S or M/S said to have been used by Caino but not sure which one. The point is that the CAINO and associated marks seem to be applied along with the makers own name in cases.

Then there is the town of Caino, in NE Brescia, in whch case the town name seems of course intended. Brescia was under control of Venice, as was Belluno and Ferara, where the famed blades of the Ferara brothers were made.

To the SW, was Genoa which was departure port for blades from centers such as Lucca and others and the well known 'sickle marks' evolved into another 'quality' connotation.

With Caino blades, another characteristic often seen are the strange groupings of letter groups in repitition, which seem to be acrostics or perhaps letters in numeric values, it has never been resolved.

I suppose that evaluating a sword with Caino blade, it becomes necessary to combine the contexts, character and individual merits at hand to make a reasonable assessment.

Aside from the book by Mr. Gotti, which is hard to obtain as well as obviously in Italian, gleaning various notes and references is the only means of gaining data on this most interesting topic.