‡ A RARE BROADSWORD, CIRCA 1475-1500, PROBABLY VENETIAN

‡ A RARE BROADSWORD, CIRCA 1475-1500, PROBABLY VENETIAN with broad double-edged blade formed with a sharp point (one small chip), struck with a knot mark on each face at the forte within a slender third-length fuller, iron hilt comprising a pair of horizontally recurved C-shaped quillons of low V-section, écusson, characteristic near rectangular ‘winged’ pommel drawn-out in the centre to a low domed boss front and back, and spirally-bound leather-covered grip (some later black paint) Provenance Doctor George Douglas A number of similar swords, formerly in the armoury of the Council of Ten, are preserved in the Armoury of the Doges Palace, Venice. Many are marked with the lion of Saint Mark on the blade as well as the so-called knot mark, associated with the bladesmiths of Belluno. See Franzoi 1990, p. 85, no. 144, fig 41.