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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2021 1:22:13 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2021 8:08:53 GMT
So, some more numbers and thoughts after a few hours. I get a rough weight (spring scale) of 1 lb 12 oz or about 794 grams round it to 800 grams more or less Overall tip to peen 102 cm or a touch more than forty inches Blade length (straight line tip to guard) right around 85 cm or just shy of 33 1/2 inches Blade width at ricasso 28 mm or a touch wider than 1 inch Blade width at the end of the fuller 20 mm or a bit more than 3/4 inch Blade spine at the guard is 10 mm or a touch less than 3/8 inch A fairly radical initial concave distal with 6 mm at the cog then more linear along the fuller to 4mm at the false edge (eight inches from the point or 20.3 cm). 3 mm across the blade for half the remaining (the fuller extends past the start of the false edge) 2 mm the last 10 cm or so of the pointy end The blade is surprisingly stiff. I was pretty much zonked out earlier but a better look shows it had silver highlights on a gilt finish. I've got to clean the hilt properly. It's like there were silver highlights in the writhen streams and on the flower in the guard. The rest a fire gilding. The guard is a little loose as the pad/bumper the blade shoulders had sat on is gone. That will likely get floss at the ferrule or a glue injection. Or nothing, it is a looker not a punisher. I keep promising pictures of stuff in house but real life has dragged me down. Here is a cameo of the smallsword with this hilt. They look good together. I'll have to get them out in better light. It will play upright if we click it but I'll tag it to show. A sword in every corner and a corner for every sword! Huzzah! GC
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2021 1:05:48 GMT
So, what I was seeing as silver highlights was just the lighting and shiny spots showing through the grunge. The blade too, it is just a hard crust of dirt. I spent some time on the hilt and these photos show I missed some spots. Quite luxurious fire gilding all around. There are still nooks and crannies of hard dirt. Cheers GC
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Post by bas on Feb 4, 2021 3:05:45 GMT
Looking very nice. Would like to see it under natural light if possible.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2021 5:07:05 GMT
Yes, apt life sucks and its an led lamp world. Sony rx100. I could try different settings. Or the window sill portraits. I'm seeing these with a bit of a muted rose gold look on the little monitor but that may be reflected light of another monitor. Plus sizing for the system. On the bigger monitor from my files, those two snaps are actually pretty close color wise, just a bit dark. Do open those in a new tab.
Thanks for the response.
GC
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Post by bas on Feb 4, 2021 20:06:09 GMT
That's always the challenge with digital photography. My sister is a professional photographer and she uses a massive true colour monitor for photo editing. But still, when the photo is viewed on another device it is under the limitations of that device.
One thing you can try is to add white balance cards to the corner of your photo and tell the post-processing software to use that as a reference for white. But then that depends on how much effort you want to put in the photos vs examining swords.
It really is a lovely sword, I regret that I just don't know enough to offer any insight on it for you.
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 10, 2021 11:54:32 GMT
Very nice one indeed. Looked up the pommel in l'Hoste and he mentions two smallswords with this exact type of pommel on page 168 fig. 279 on an Epee de Page and page 169, fig. 281, an Epee de Cour, both mid 18th C. and also an Epee d'Officier from the late 18th C. He does not mention other examples, so this was a short lived fad it looks like. The guard ensemble looks like later examples as seen on the 5 ball spadroons and especially an Epee d'Officier de Dragons from the Consulat period, page 209 - fig.368. Looking at the way the grip is constructed, with the extra and long tube under the pommel and the state and design of the grip and a bit too simple wire for a piece like this, I have this notion that this was done to lengthen the (too) short grip to get the knuckle bow to meet the pommel at the right hight. It smacks a bit like a pastiche of sorts, but this could have been done in the period, even by a furbisher, though the grip looks off in my view. Too new and not echoing the delicate designs of the metal parts of the hilt. I should expect something like turned or fluted wood here, something more in the spadroon style, more fancy. How does the peen look? All in all I think this still is a very nice piece. Maybe later at some point you'll find a turned or fluted horn or wood grip that fits.
Cheers.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2021 17:42:22 GMT
The peen is fairly good. Some tapping, no doubt due to the loss of the blade seating washer but not dressed off, which someone doing a Frankenstein would have taken care of. The pommel is not a true sphere, measuring 28 mm side to side and 31 mm fore to aft. That would be large for an epee de cour but maybe not for a large smallsword. This pommel near the size of the french hanger above. (^^ blade longer than 88cm) You can also see the scale in difference in my fuzzy snap with the smallsword leaned behind this sword. That with a typical size we would see on the little epee de cour or stepping out de ville swords. I do have one with a larger pommel from the Bourbon era. The grip leather is quite like a much later sword I own from the 1850s but the fitment of the grip to the turret supporting the pommel is precise and immaculate, with the various fittings all sharing the same good deep fire clad gilt. That aspect of the gilt speaks earlier to me than the deposition grainy look of mid years gold deposition washes we see until electroplating was going gang busters. My 1850s Max II Bavarian sword we've seen before. A similar very thin leather. Cheers GC
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2021 2:30:55 GMT
Of course, once I open my eyes I see more tratits amd as mentioned not far akin from some epee. Nothing in sabre form but the first with the wire has some distinct similarities. Cheers GC
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Post by daveschmulow on Feb 21, 2021 16:23:55 GMT
Absolutely stunning looking sword. If I might ask how did you clean all the grime of the fire gilded hilt with out damaging the gilding?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2021 17:37:55 GMT
Hi, welcome aboard. Once in hand, I was able to see that it is the older fire gilding, which is basically thin sheet gold fused to the base metal. That makes it durable enough to use a low abrasive cleaner/polish to lift the grime. In this case I used some Noxon, which contains amongst other things, oxalic acid. The remaining after these photos was with mostly a soft toothbrush to get to the crevices. The base metal certainly brass. Other gilding using a simpler deposition process, before electroplating, has a less durable finish that wears off. Think of the old fire/fused gilding much like a more modern term of gold filled. The modern gold rolled/filled is much thinner but still far and above cheap gold electroplating. An older lousy picture of one of my eagle pommel swords before and after cleaning. This one has a base metal called Brittannia for the pommel (guard and fittings of brass), a leap from pewter (eliminating lead) in England during the later 18th century years. www.pewtersociety.org/identifying-and-collecting-pewter/collecting/britannia-metal In the before picture of the guard, you can see a bit of a rippling look that shows a real luster and depth once cleaned. Again horrible pictures of clean but you start to see the brilliance. In many cases of fire gilding, you will see spots they missed and you can see the base metals poking out. Later (and earlier) pre electroplating deposition types have a different look and wears quickly. An 1850ish sword here, again before cleaning but a very flat looking gilt that rubs off easily in wear, or aggressive cleaning. Even when grimy, the fire gilt fittings have a subdued luster. Always begin with the lightest touch unless knowing for sure what you are approaching. I won't go through an inventory of mu methods and tools in my own little shop of horrors but I am more a minimalist with many of my swords. Clean, remove active rust. Conserve more than restore but there have been times I have polished/ground out blades that were horribly scratched in errant sharpening. Another before and after while in the process of cleaning. A fire gilt that had been in a fire. With a cracked blade, it will never be exceptionally pretty and I stopped on the blade after removing rust. In a bit of ying yang though, a Thurkle worth being dusting off a bit. The front of the seminal Mowbray 'The Early Years' first edition cloth bindings. Cheers GC
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