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Post by tymko on Nov 16, 2022 13:48:22 GMT
Hello! Nice to be here. I would like to ask you, if anyone can recognize / write something about this epee / sword. Is it french? From what period?     thanks im advance! best regards. Tymko |
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Post by Jayhawk on Nov 18, 2022 17:26:28 GMT
My guess is French, but it's just a guess. Early 19th century, likely Solingen made, but it's a pretty common style for the time period. It's very similar to an American epee I have, made by P Knecht of Solingen. I can't get any of the pictures to come up when I click them, so I can't see if that's the Knecht mark in the second picture on the back of the blade by the hilt. Have you taken a magnifying glass to the etching near the hilt on that back/flat side of the blade?
Eric
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Uhlan
Member
Posts: 3,096
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Post by Uhlan on Dec 9, 2022 9:55:27 GMT
Based on the rather incomplete information seen above I would say this one looks like an Epee from the Restoration period - Louis Philippe. Superior Officer. The head on top of the grip looks like a dolphin as depicted on old maps etc, so this one may have been the property of someone from the Navy sec or the civilian part thereoff. The guard plate depicts two winged ladies, one holding an ancre and seated on a chest or a bail (cotton ?) or something and holding (?) in her left hand, while the other is seated on something that is not clear to me, but seems to morphe into a peacock like bird (?), holding an Eastern design oil lamp (?) with her left hand and in her right hand something I cannot make out. The male head in the medallion in the middle is not there for nothing, but I haven't a clue of who or what this person might be.
He has a laurel wreath on his head.
Thus far the impression I get from all the little clues is that this epee belonged to someone from the merchant side of the Navy as an officer or as a buraucrat. I do not see anything martial. No guns or bombs, swords or axes, or assorted flags and drapes and hero helmets, stuff like that. It just occured to me the guy in the medallion may be Odysseus. Pure speculation on my part, but he did long journeys to far away places? Also get an Eastern vibe here, so maybe trade with India?
Anyway, that is what I can make out of this very nice epee. Can be wrong of course but this is what I have. Would like to know who made it. The inscription sits probably right under the guard plate.
Figuring out the little clues and symbolisms all over these epees is often great fun.
The general design you'll find in l'Hoste's ,,Les Epees''. This book served me well over the years.
Cheers.
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