I recently acquired the firanghi pictured below. I'm posting it here because I have questions about the visible European maker's marks on the blade.
Short background: The sword is believed to be 17th century with a 16th century Italian or Spanish blade. Aside from the large brace and extensive gold koftgari, the most striking thing about the sword is its size: 115 cm.
It was not uncommon for firanghi to use local blades with imitation European maker's marks, but I think that this is a well put together sword with a nice, genuine European blade. And the imitation marks tend to be much smaller in scope and more simple.
Regarding the marks, I see 2 marks that are repeated a few times:
- Crosses. 2 visible in the oval opening of the bracing on both sides, 1 right before the large stylistic mark incorporating dots and multiple small crosses on one side, and a faded or rubbed out cross about halfway down the blade. But a cross isn't terribly distinctive for Europe!
- Crowns. 1 visible in the circular opening of the brace on one side, 1 visible and the top end of the oval opening on the same side, and 1 visible at the bottom end of the oval opening of the brace on the other side. I think the crown might be more distinctive than the cross.
I'm having a hard time with the rest of the marks, and I'm not sure if I'm looking at some C's or omegas, V's or a W, an H or 3 I's, etc. I was hoping that someone might be familiar with these marks and could point me towards the smith.
There is a mix of the dealer's pictures (because his pictures are prettier), and my pictures.