Pappenheimer (and rapiers in general) hilt length

[midelburgo]

Originally Posted by 10thRoyal

These things must have been a royal pain to lug around. The number of times day they must have gotten caught on a rail or doorframe is absurd.

You know, Spanish rapier scabbards used to have a coil at the bottom and a release mechanism at the mouth, so the blade literally jumped out of the scabbard. You could have a Spaniard of 1meter 60 trying to unsheath a 1meter 20 rapier.

[urbanspaceman]

I acquired this recently purely because it intrigued me and it was very cheap.
It was made by Pillin and Co. for a member of the Knights of Malta which were an off-shoot of the Knights of St John... apparently (see labels).
The blade is from Thurkle with a T slug.
Anyway, the point is this: the hilt is 8&1/4 inches top to bottom and the same from quillon tip to quillon tip. The pommel is huge and very heavy.
On this 31 inch blade is is decidedly unbalanced.
Pillin must have referenced a traditional example, copied the hilt but decided against a longer blade.
ps
The Thurkle history is an interesting one.