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PRE WW1 BRITISH SWORD 1750’s ENGLISH SMALL SWORD ENGRAVED RAPIER COLICHEMARDE
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PRE WW1 BRITISH SWORD 1750’s ENGLISH SMALL SWORD ENGRAVED RAPIER COLICHEMARDE

$1,450.00

SOLD

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Description

On offer is a  beautiful 1750’s English colichemarde, French small sword engraved rapier. Features ornate pierced steel hilt with wire twist grip, ball pommel, knuckle guard and oval double dish hilt guard all extremely well executed. 83cm triple shallow fullered blade with additional deep triangular fuller makes this blade very strong and light. Surface carries worn scrollwork, very light pitting along length and the edge has a few minor nicks from sword play. This still wonderfully functional sword is 101cm full length and very well balanced. Blade in generally very good condition and hilt is superb.

History: Colichemarde is a type of small sword blade that was popular from the late 17th century to the middle 18th century. It features a wide forte, which abruptly tapers to a much narrower form at a point varying between a fifth to a third of the blade length from the hilt. The blade cross section was most often triangular and hollow-ground. This configuration combines good parrying characteristics, due to the wide blade forte, with the good maneuverability and thrusting characteristics imparted by the narrow blade foible. Its lighter weight, shorter length and superior balance, compared to the rapier, allowed faster and more accurate movement of the blade. This enabled the fencer to achieve a more precisely targeted thrust on an adversary. The point where the blade of a sword joins the tang was a recognized weak point. The tang was often made of malleable iron and forge-welded to the steel of the blade. A wider blade at this point of transition, such as is seen in the colichemarde, may have been viewed as offering a stronger union. The colichemarde blade configuration is sometimes credited to one Graf von Königsmark (perhaps Otto Wilhelm Königsmarck), owing to the two names’ similarity in pronunciation. The colichemarde first appeared about 1680 and was popular during the next 40 years at the royal European courts. It was especially popular with the officers of the French and Indian War period. George Washington was presented with one during his inauguration

Additional information

Weight 0.4 kg
Dimensions 77 × 65 × 5 cm

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