‡ A FINE ENGLISH DISH-HILT RAPIER, MID-17TH CENTURY

‡ A FINE ENGLISH DISH-HILT RAPIER, MID-17TH CENTURY with tapering blade of flattened-hexagonal section stamped with decorative marks and a brief inscription including ‘Tomas’ in a short fuller on each face, symmetrical iron hilt of flattened rounded bars, comprising dish-guard pierced and chiselled with a small panel of trellis enclosed by elaborate foliage and mulberry fruits, écusson chiselled with foliage, delicately fluted horizontal quillons with tightly up-and down-curved spatulate terminals, outer ring-guard joined to the dish-guard by a pair of scrolling arms and joined on one side to the knuckle-guard, plummet-shaped pommel, chiselled throughout with scrollwork and foliage en suite with the guard, and the grip with a later binding of plaited copper wire between ‘Turk’s heads’, 91.4 cm blade Provenance The Bruce Axt Collection