A Hand and a Half

[ulfberth]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

Forgive my possibly ignorant question: is it possible this is an actual Andrea Ferarra blade?
A thing of wonder, non-the-less.

Yes, it's a blade from the maker himself. The sword's hilt dates from the mid-16th century, as does the shape and type of the blade. The other symbols in the blade's fullers all date from around 1540-1550.

[urbanspaceman]

As I said before - but now even more so: a thing of wonder!
Thanks Dirk.

[Armadillo]

This is a beautiful sword in wonderful condition. What a piece to own. Thank you for the close-up photos of the developed guard and pommel. Could you perhaps provide some dimensions for the sword: overall length, blade length, width at Ricasso?
-A.

[Ed]

Sorry ... I have been wool gathering ...

3lb 8oz
Length o/a = 47"
Blade=38.25"
Cross guard= 10"
Grip = 6"

I noted that the Christie's description description describes it as "composite". I see not evidence of that.

Thoughts?

[Lee]

I well remember my anticipation of the glossy sales catalogues from the major London auctions back when I was active...

The cataloging was pretty stringent back then...

[Ed]

Thats it. I wonder what the issue was?

[Lee]

I wonder if some features seemed possibly asynchronous to the cataloger at the time, then logic was to better call it composite to be on the safe side if someone later had doubts. When and if it turns out to all be contemporaneous on further study, then the buyer will not likely be unhappy.

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by Lee

I well remember my anticipation of the glossy sales catalogues from the major London auctions back when I was active...

The cataloging was pretty stringent back then...

Lovely sword. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time!

[Ed]

Some references and discussion

https://brownlee.com.au/Pages/Andrea_Ferara_swords.html