A Venetian Schiavona for comment

[ulfberth]

Hello Casey,

Congratulations with a very rare schiavona, all parts look original to me and belong together.
I think the the description as made by the auction house is spot on, this is indeed a transitional or a variant of the schiavona that is between a sword and a rapier from the first part of the 17th century.
Before that period more countries had swords from which the schiavona could have evolved, some dussage or tessak swords or 16th century German type's of basket hilts could have been predecessors that lead to the schiavona.
The pommel with the cherub head is also very nice and most probably Venetian, you don't' find this kind of pommel very often.
The straight crossguard on this is even more rare and it is indeed a schiavona and no dussage, I have included some pictures of, a Venetian cherub's head, and a similar schiavona with a straight sword blade.

Kind regards
Ulfberth