XVIIIth century Philippine Colonial sword

midelburgo · 24th July 2018, 09:23 PM

A year ago I found the sword below, stacked in an umbrella stand among walking sticks at a local antiquarian show in Spain, the seller did not know anything about it, including how to pick it in his hand.
For a while, I thought it could be from a former Spanish virreynato, maybe Nueva Granada (mostly Colombia now). Later, a few clues indicated these swords were coming from the Philippines. Maybe from the end of the XVIIth century to middle XVIIIth. The Estruch catalog from his collection (1896) described the entry 1312 as found in Bulacan (Philippines). The catalog is online now and it has a small collection of non-Europeans weapons, resembling that of Buttin.
The blade of this one could be a century older than the hilt or rather more. The long fuller is reminiscent of XVth century blades as the one of Fernando El Catolico. One can only imagine the places this piece of metal has been since abandoning Europe. Maybe it even took part in the undoing of the Aztec empire before embarking at Acapulco in a returning Manila galleon.
The ricasso is built with a brass piece. There is something illegible scratched on the blade. In other pieces, there are what seem to be unit markings. The grip is made of horn and the rings and the spiral ribbon that cover it are silver.
This sort of swords is not described anywhere as a group. They usually get the generic “colonial Spanish” what is not far from the mark.

24th July 2018, 09:23 PM	#1
midelburgo Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 248	XVIIIth century Philippine Colonial sword A year ago I found the sword below, stacked in an umbrella stand among walking sticks at a local antiquarian show in Spain, the seller did not know anything about it, including how to pick it in his hand. For a while, I thought it could be from a former Spanish virreynato, maybe Nueva Granada (mostly Colombia now). Later, a few clues indicated these swords were coming from the Philippines. Maybe from the end of the XVIIth century to middle XVIIIth. The Estruch catalog from his collection (1896) described the entry 1312 as found in Bulacan (Philippines). The catalog is online now and it has a small collection of non-Europeans weapons, resembling that of Buttin. The blade of this one could be a century older than the hilt or rather more. The long fuller is reminiscent of XVth century blades as the one of Fernando El Catolico. One can only imagine the places this piece of metal has been since abandoning Europe. Maybe it even took part in the undoing of the Aztec empire before embarking at Acapulco in a returning Manila galleon. The ricasso is built with a brass piece. There is something illegible scratched on the blade. In other pieces, there are what seem to be unit markings. The grip is made of horn and the rings and the spiral ribbon that cover it are silver. This sort of swords is not described anywhere as a group. They usually get the generic “colonial Spanish” what is not far from the mark. Attached Images Last edited by midelburgo; 24th July 2018 at 10:27 PM.