18th century Neapolitan broadsword/transitional rapier
Oct 7, 2023 21:47:00 GMT
Post by jimmythedonut on Oct 7, 2023 21:47:00 GMT
Hi all hope you're doing well, I figured I would post this here too because not everyone is on the IASC page (so most info here will be copied and pasted as I am a lazy man). Initial photos will be the auction posting, followed by it first arriving, followed by it being "finished" as good as I can get it for the time being.
After multiple sources of feedback I suppose you can call this a Transitional Rapier, a Spadroon following the French taxonomy of going by hilt, or as the Neapolitan school of rapier/sabre would say, a "spadancia."
I dropped a 650 euro impulse bid at the summer Czernys auction on her and she arrived a few weeks ago.
I apologize for some of the photos as the lighting was nearly impossible to figure out, some parts are shinier than they normally look, some parts like the grip are duller than they look. Here is how it arrived to my residence:
I've been treating this one with kid gloves, obviously, and while I lament how overall shiny it is now it was necessary to get the dirt and rust off the guard and blade. Nothing but renaissance metal de corroder, oil, hot water soap and a toothbrush, and 0000 steel wool were used. In time it should patina back down which should also make it photograph more nicely as some of the residual pits left are deeper than the etching making it look worse than it is. Unfortunately I was unable to get as much dead rust cleaned out as I wanted (which is to say all of it) but hopefully in the future I can improve my skills more as I didnt want to use anything too rough. Cleaning it initially took away a nice layer of patina and exposed lots of blisters underneath unfortunately but I consider it better for the long term health of the sword to take a short term "loss" by doing what I could.
The sword itself is what you could classify as a Spanish Transitional Rapier, Smallsword, or going by French classification, a Spadroon (as they denote Sabres by hilt so extending that to this example would make it a spadroon). It is 107.5cm overall with about a 90cm blade. Thickness is around 7mm though it looks thinner because of the hexagonal cross section. Weight is about 625-650 grams and about 27mm wide at the base.
(Will post stats again in the format you folks are accustomed to for ease of finding)
This begins the "cleaned up" photos as well:
OAL: 107.5cm
BL: 90cm
Thickness: 7mm
Width: 27mm
POB: ~12.5cm +/- .5cm
Weight: 625-650g
Like other Spanish style blades it goes from a hexagonal cross section to a diamond shaped one around ~60-66% down the blade, albeit gradually without any noticeable lines of change. This example is a bit more flat at the tip but still has a pronounced central ridge, albeit more like a spatulate tip overall. The forte on both sides features Spanish style decorations with some Neapolitan engraving we'll get to later. I currently don't see any makers marks though I am unfamiliar with this era and Spanish swords in general so perhaps I am missing something.
The guard is effectively an elongated Kidney or Boat Hilt with finger rings and quillons. There was dirt in just about every part of the fluting on the entire thing. To clean it, I'd run it (excluding the wood core grip) under some warm water and gently scrub with a soapy soft bristled toothbrush to help break up the dirt, then use soft toothpicks that broke more than worked to push anything else out. It was wildly successful and I hope the photos show how much gilding was intact under the flutes. There is a line of gilding straight down the inside of the guard, likely hidden from wearing off by the crossguard above, albeit it is hard to photograph. Grip is wood core with some sort of silver wire. Peened pommel and a knuckle bow screw.
The entire quillon block appears to have been bent over time but it does not impair handling in the slightest. With the long ricasso you can easily use 2 fingers ungloved or 1 gloved finger to get a better more precise grip, which already makes it infinitely better than any of the other thrusting swords that have hammer grip arrangements.
As you can likely tell, the ricasso is still gilded as well, to a mostly satisfactory standard tho there are some fingerprint lines on 1 side and corrosion on the other and I've not done anything other than light rubbing alcohol or soap and a soft toothbrush and those have no effect.
It flows in the hand so well. IMO it is far better at wrist driven moulinets than say a 1796 spadroon because of the symmetrical blade and the more aerodynamical blade shape which really just flows through motions. It really does sing in the air. I love it! The foible is flexible but not to the extent I've heard rumored other Toledo blades are, and far less than the one I got earlier this year. Again, the slightly more spatulated tip while still being robust likely lends itself to slashing than a more estoc like tip and mine is pretty sharp still.
Now onto the provenance:
It was sold as a Gardes du Corps sword for an officer of Ferdinand III/IV/I of Sicily, Naples, and The Kingdom of Two Sicilies respectively to those numbers. I will be honest and say I had a bit of a mental nightmare trying to figure out when/where as one side of the blade says VIVA FERDINAND IV and the other says KING OF TWO SICILIES as I considered those to be mutually exclusive things (As he was the FIRST King of the latter) but further research indicates that The Kingdom of Two Sicilies was known informally as such for many years before.
Because of that I feel confident in dating it roughly from 1759-1816 starting when he became King at 8 years old. And what a Not Good king he was. Don't worry though, he has an excuse. And I am not making this up in the slightest, he was deliberately raised incorrectly by an evil administrator to be a power hungry vain classist aristocrat more concerned with his own wealth and happiness than anything else. No seriously that is actually the reason. How this hasn't been made into the weirdest retelling of Othello I dont know.
But Naples at this time was all but a Spanish client state, which lends credence to the Spanish style of sword. Now supposedly his wife, who was slightly more competent than him if no less deplorable, kicked the Spanish influence out of Naples in 1776 (good year for getting rid of foreign powers I suppose). So gun to my head, I would date the sword from 1759-1776. HOWEVER, I have 0 idea if they went so far as to literally have swords made AFTER this time be in a non-Spanish style or if I am overestimating all of this.
Regardless his actions during the Napoleonic Wars consisted of attacking, losing, signing a peace treaty, then immediately attacking again. His actions AFTER the Napoleonic Wars included mismanaging his lands so much that a coalition of stable monarchies had to talk to him repeatedly and even occupy cities beginning the noble efforts to democratize or at least suppress the Nobility.
On one of these threads (maybe the Italian 1855) there is a gif showing the political changes of Italy during the long 19th century efforts to unify, god help you if wish to fully understand the timeline.
He was so bad at all of this that in 1816 he effectively did the Kingdom equivalent of declaring bankruptcy, restructuring his company under a new name, and starting over while ignoring any old concessions and constitutions and punishing his enemies as well. I unironically cannot say anything good about this man I'm sorry, at least dictators kept their subjects in line. Here is the flag and the meaning behind it if you would like to see if your eyes have evolved the ability to scream in pain:
Thus begins the Kingdom of Two Sicilies proper.
Eventually he passed and his son took over, slightly more competent if still one of the most anti-liberal rulers in Europe. As Italy began to spend the majority of the 19th century unifying, the Kingdom of 2 Sicilies became the main rivals of the House of Savoy (and the Papal states) and their forces (Ignoring international powers like the Austro Hungarian Empire). Long story short, the North won and Italy was unified in 1870 with the capture of Rome, which was a pretty important era of time historically with German unification and French political ambition under Napoleon III occurring at the same time. But it's still cool to see a historical antique from the "other side" of this era of Italian Swords as most of us are more familiar with the 1833s and 1860s and whatnot.
In conclusion I am extremely pleased with my sword, save that I couldn't clean more rust out, and that for the time being, she looks way too shiny. But a 250 year sword can spend a few years looking dolled up I suppose. Hopefully she will outlast me and look nicer to the next owner than she did when she arrived to me. Not only is she beautiful but she's probably my favorite handling sword I own right now.
After multiple sources of feedback I suppose you can call this a Transitional Rapier, a Spadroon following the French taxonomy of going by hilt, or as the Neapolitan school of rapier/sabre would say, a "spadancia."
I dropped a 650 euro impulse bid at the summer Czernys auction on her and she arrived a few weeks ago.
I apologize for some of the photos as the lighting was nearly impossible to figure out, some parts are shinier than they normally look, some parts like the grip are duller than they look. Here is how it arrived to my residence:
I've been treating this one with kid gloves, obviously, and while I lament how overall shiny it is now it was necessary to get the dirt and rust off the guard and blade. Nothing but renaissance metal de corroder, oil, hot water soap and a toothbrush, and 0000 steel wool were used. In time it should patina back down which should also make it photograph more nicely as some of the residual pits left are deeper than the etching making it look worse than it is. Unfortunately I was unable to get as much dead rust cleaned out as I wanted (which is to say all of it) but hopefully in the future I can improve my skills more as I didnt want to use anything too rough. Cleaning it initially took away a nice layer of patina and exposed lots of blisters underneath unfortunately but I consider it better for the long term health of the sword to take a short term "loss" by doing what I could.
The sword itself is what you could classify as a Spanish Transitional Rapier, Smallsword, or going by French classification, a Spadroon (as they denote Sabres by hilt so extending that to this example would make it a spadroon). It is 107.5cm overall with about a 90cm blade. Thickness is around 7mm though it looks thinner because of the hexagonal cross section. Weight is about 625-650 grams and about 27mm wide at the base.
(Will post stats again in the format you folks are accustomed to for ease of finding)
This begins the "cleaned up" photos as well:
OAL: 107.5cm
BL: 90cm
Thickness: 7mm
Width: 27mm
POB: ~12.5cm +/- .5cm
Weight: 625-650g
Like other Spanish style blades it goes from a hexagonal cross section to a diamond shaped one around ~60-66% down the blade, albeit gradually without any noticeable lines of change. This example is a bit more flat at the tip but still has a pronounced central ridge, albeit more like a spatulate tip overall. The forte on both sides features Spanish style decorations with some Neapolitan engraving we'll get to later. I currently don't see any makers marks though I am unfamiliar with this era and Spanish swords in general so perhaps I am missing something.
The guard is effectively an elongated Kidney or Boat Hilt with finger rings and quillons. There was dirt in just about every part of the fluting on the entire thing. To clean it, I'd run it (excluding the wood core grip) under some warm water and gently scrub with a soapy soft bristled toothbrush to help break up the dirt, then use soft toothpicks that broke more than worked to push anything else out. It was wildly successful and I hope the photos show how much gilding was intact under the flutes. There is a line of gilding straight down the inside of the guard, likely hidden from wearing off by the crossguard above, albeit it is hard to photograph. Grip is wood core with some sort of silver wire. Peened pommel and a knuckle bow screw.
The entire quillon block appears to have been bent over time but it does not impair handling in the slightest. With the long ricasso you can easily use 2 fingers ungloved or 1 gloved finger to get a better more precise grip, which already makes it infinitely better than any of the other thrusting swords that have hammer grip arrangements.
As you can likely tell, the ricasso is still gilded as well, to a mostly satisfactory standard tho there are some fingerprint lines on 1 side and corrosion on the other and I've not done anything other than light rubbing alcohol or soap and a soft toothbrush and those have no effect.
It flows in the hand so well. IMO it is far better at wrist driven moulinets than say a 1796 spadroon because of the symmetrical blade and the more aerodynamical blade shape which really just flows through motions. It really does sing in the air. I love it! The foible is flexible but not to the extent I've heard rumored other Toledo blades are, and far less than the one I got earlier this year. Again, the slightly more spatulated tip while still being robust likely lends itself to slashing than a more estoc like tip and mine is pretty sharp still.
Now onto the provenance:
It was sold as a Gardes du Corps sword for an officer of Ferdinand III/IV/I of Sicily, Naples, and The Kingdom of Two Sicilies respectively to those numbers. I will be honest and say I had a bit of a mental nightmare trying to figure out when/where as one side of the blade says VIVA FERDINAND IV and the other says KING OF TWO SICILIES as I considered those to be mutually exclusive things (As he was the FIRST King of the latter) but further research indicates that The Kingdom of Two Sicilies was known informally as such for many years before.
Because of that I feel confident in dating it roughly from 1759-1816 starting when he became King at 8 years old. And what a Not Good king he was. Don't worry though, he has an excuse. And I am not making this up in the slightest, he was deliberately raised incorrectly by an evil administrator to be a power hungry vain classist aristocrat more concerned with his own wealth and happiness than anything else. No seriously that is actually the reason. How this hasn't been made into the weirdest retelling of Othello I dont know.
But Naples at this time was all but a Spanish client state, which lends credence to the Spanish style of sword. Now supposedly his wife, who was slightly more competent than him if no less deplorable, kicked the Spanish influence out of Naples in 1776 (good year for getting rid of foreign powers I suppose). So gun to my head, I would date the sword from 1759-1776. HOWEVER, I have 0 idea if they went so far as to literally have swords made AFTER this time be in a non-Spanish style or if I am overestimating all of this.
Regardless his actions during the Napoleonic Wars consisted of attacking, losing, signing a peace treaty, then immediately attacking again. His actions AFTER the Napoleonic Wars included mismanaging his lands so much that a coalition of stable monarchies had to talk to him repeatedly and even occupy cities beginning the noble efforts to democratize or at least suppress the Nobility.
On one of these threads (maybe the Italian 1855) there is a gif showing the political changes of Italy during the long 19th century efforts to unify, god help you if wish to fully understand the timeline.
He was so bad at all of this that in 1816 he effectively did the Kingdom equivalent of declaring bankruptcy, restructuring his company under a new name, and starting over while ignoring any old concessions and constitutions and punishing his enemies as well. I unironically cannot say anything good about this man I'm sorry, at least dictators kept their subjects in line. Here is the flag and the meaning behind it if you would like to see if your eyes have evolved the ability to scream in pain:
Thus begins the Kingdom of Two Sicilies proper.
Eventually he passed and his son took over, slightly more competent if still one of the most anti-liberal rulers in Europe. As Italy began to spend the majority of the 19th century unifying, the Kingdom of 2 Sicilies became the main rivals of the House of Savoy (and the Papal states) and their forces (Ignoring international powers like the Austro Hungarian Empire). Long story short, the North won and Italy was unified in 1870 with the capture of Rome, which was a pretty important era of time historically with German unification and French political ambition under Napoleon III occurring at the same time. But it's still cool to see a historical antique from the "other side" of this era of Italian Swords as most of us are more familiar with the 1833s and 1860s and whatnot.
In conclusion I am extremely pleased with my sword, save that I couldn't clean more rust out, and that for the time being, she looks way too shiny. But a 250 year sword can spend a few years looking dolled up I suppose. Hopefully she will outlast me and look nicer to the next owner than she did when she arrived to me. Not only is she beautiful but she's probably my favorite handling sword I own right now.