Tesche Small Sword or Rapier

[M ELEY]

I agree with Ulfberth as far as a gentleman's sword. I would venture the possibility that it might be Spanish colonial in origin. If so, it would still be a "composite", but one of the contemporary period made for the constraints of a provincial locale that made due with the parts they had available to them. German sword smiths were continuously selling their wares to the Spanish and English craftsman all the time. I used to have a Spanish broadsword with the classic marking "Do not draw me without reason..." motto (in Spanish) by a well-known German maker (their marking and Solingen on blade. I likewise found an old copy of their workmanship being shipped to S. America). Likewise, the hilt/guard strikes me as Spanish colonial in its simplicity, functionality, and open style. The crude finials, with their simple line and cross design, screams Span-colonial to me. In Brincherhoff's volume, we see these patterns on some of the swords pictured. Likewise, Brazilian espada ancha (discussed on this forum in the past) has the same type of line/star patterning and 'C' shapes to their guards (and I do mean the exact same C shape!). I would guess that it might be later (mid-18th) despite its earlier pattern given that Span colonial pieces frequently were behind the times when it came to form (case in point, bilbos and cuphilts still being used in the Americas as late as the first quarter of the 19th c.)

Check out the thread from this forum "On the origin of the so-called Berber sabers" and take a look at Dmitri's shell guard, complete with 'C's. I've seen this patterning on these types of Span colonial pieces frequently.

Mark