New Sword Collector Seeking Input

[werecow]

What is unusual with this example is that the style of decoration in the base of the guard with the face etc. to me resembles that of English hilts of early to mid 17th. Also in Norman ("Rapier and Small Sword 1400-1820", ) the pommel form seems to be close to pommels 60,62 which are English, Dutch early-mid 17th c).

That also fits in well with the other rapier with a dish hilt; looks like a cavalier hilt from that era and its motifs are very similar to those of mortuary swords from the English civil war (including the face on the knuckle bow and the decorations on the guard).

[Seeker]

Thank you for that, Werecow. I was aware of the connection between the heads chiseled into the cup (dish?) of the English rapier with mortuary swords, but I had completely failed to notice that same feature on the squelette rapier.

[Triarii]

Straight quillions on the swept hilt tend to indicate the early part of the C17th or late C16th. I have an Italian swept hilt with a similar form. After that they tend to curl in.
The English one is great - English mid C17th is my area of interest and I have not unlike that, but with slightly different quillion ends. They're both sort of what AVB Norman calls a Type 87, though they differ in details, which he says dates to 1635 to 1650.
Whichever one has the anchor symbol at the end of the fuller - that tends to indicate a German made blade.