Dutch blade shapes
These fortified blade trans raps are fascinating; thank-you.
The slim unsharpened style of blade seems to have been especially common in the Netherlands.
I have a late 1600s transitional rapier/smallsword that has been tagged as a 'duelling rapier' although precisely what constitutes such a sword is somewhat vague in my experience, with only the lack of a knuckleguard being a constant feature.
Later 'first blood' dueling rapiers with equestrian hilts seem to have been common in the Low Countries.
I must try to acquire one of those fortified blade trans raps.
If anyone out there is au fait with Dutch sword history perhaps they can tell me if Solingen ever set up a satellite industry in Rotterdam or was it just a trading post. Bezdek doesn't seem to have discovered one.
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