Late 17thC Scottish Broadsword.

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Absolutely a marvelous piece, Norman! I particularly like the 'S'-patterned braces. These types are a little rarer than the standard baskets with the three saltires. It appears your basket did have a wrist guard at one time (the quillon that extends from the basket), but broke off, which is a very common occurrence. In this case, that would date the basket to post-1700, as this feature was added to deflect the dreaded wrist slash common in Scottish fencing. An amazing survivor from the Jacobite period!

Hi Mark,
I actually have the broken quillion/wrist guard and am in the process of trying to find someone suitable to reattach said quillion without compromising the integrity of the sword but I'm not having much luck. I've a feeling that I will probably leave the problem to the next custodian if I can't find anybody soon.
My Regards,
Norman.