Ethnographic Arms & Armour
 

Go Back   Ethnographic Arms & Armour > Discussion Forums > European Armoury

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 23rd October 2019, 08:14 PM   #1
vilhelmsson
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 57
Default European Maker's Marks on an Indian Firanghi

I recently acquired the firanghi pictured below. I'm posting it here because I have questions about the visible European maker's marks on the blade.

Short background: The sword is believed to be 17th century with a 16th century Italian or Spanish blade. Aside from the large brace and extensive gold koftgari, the most striking thing about the sword is its size: 115 cm.

It was not uncommon for firanghi to use local blades with imitation European maker's marks, but I think that this is a well put together sword with a nice, genuine European blade. And the imitation marks tend to be much smaller in scope and more simple.

Regarding the marks, I see 2 marks that are repeated a few times:
  • Crosses. 2 visible in the oval opening of the bracing on both sides, 1 right before the large stylistic mark incorporating dots and multiple small crosses on one side, and a faded or rubbed out cross about halfway down the blade. But a cross isn't terribly distinctive for Europe!
  • Crowns. 1 visible in the circular opening of the brace on one side, 1 visible and the top end of the oval opening on the same side, and 1 visible at the bottom end of the oval opening of the brace on the other side. I think the crown might be more distinctive than the cross.

I'm having a hard time with the rest of the marks, and I'm not sure if I'm looking at some C's or omegas, V's or a W, an H or 3 I's, etc. I was hoping that someone might be familiar with these marks and could point me towards the smith.

There is a mix of the dealer's pictures (because his pictures are prettier), and my pictures.
Attached Images
       
vilhelmsson is offline   Reply With Quote
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:38 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Posts are regarded as being copyrighted by their authors and the act of posting material is deemed to be a granting of an irrevocable nonexclusive license for display here.