Original 19th Century Victorian High Quality Replica Of A 17th Century Swept Hilt Rapier Original Items

Original Victorian Era Replica: Only One Available. Even though this is not an original 17th Century Swept Hilt Rapier, it is an absolutely beautiful 19th Century Victorian copy! During the Victorian Age, the wealthy had an admiration for the finer weaponry of centuries passed and would request items such as this rapier to be made so they could furnish their homes with it. These copies were manufactured in a way that even museum curators of the time could not determine the difference between an original and a copy. This is truly a lovely example of these fine replicated items!

A rapier or espada ropera is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military sidearm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.

Important sources for rapier fencing include the Italian Bolognese group, with early representatives such as Antonio Manciolino and Achille Marozzo publishing in the 1530s, and reaching the peak of its popularity with writers of the early 1600s (Salvator Fabris, Ridolfo Capo Ferro). In Spain, rapier fencing came to be known under the term of destreza (“dexterity”) in the second half of the 16th century, based on the theories of Jerónimo Sánchez de Carranza in his work De la Filosofía de las Armas y de su Destreza y la Agression y la Defensa Cristiana (“The Philosophy of Arms and of their Dexterity and of Aggression and the Christian Defence”), published in 1569. The best known treatise of this tradition was published in French, by Girard Thibault, in 1630.

The French smallsword or court sword of the 18th century was a direct continuation of this tradition of fencing, adapted specifically for dueling.

We believe that this is modeled after the Italian 17th Century Swept Hilt Rapier, due to the design of the hilt. Rapiers often have complex, sweeping hilts designed to protect the hand wielding the sword. Rings extend forward from the crosspiece. In some later samples, rings are covered with metal plates, eventually evolving into the cup hilts of many later rapiers. There were hardly any samples that featured plates covering the rings prior to the 1600s. Many hilts include a knuckle bow extending down from the crosspiece protecting the grip, which was usually wood wrapped with cord, leather or wire. A large pommel (often decorated) secures the hilt to the weapon and provides some weight to balance the long blade.

Various rapier masters divided the blade into two, three, four, five or even nine parts. The forte, strong, is that part of the blade closest to the hilt; in cases where a master divides the blade into an even number of parts, this is the first half of the blade. The debole, weak, is the part of the blade which includes the point and is the second half of the blade when the sword is divided into an even number of parts. However, some rapier masters divided the blade into three parts (or even a multiple of three), in which case the central third of the blade, between the forte and the debole, was often called the medio, mezzo or the terzo. Others used four divisions (Fabris) or even 12 (Thibault).

The ricasso is the rear portion of the blade, usually unsharpened. It extends forward from the crosspiece or quillion and then gradually integrates into the thinner and sharper portion of the blade. The blade is unsharpened on this example and features lovely etchwork running the length of the fuller on both sides.

Rapiers are single-handed weapons and they were often employed with off-hand bucklers, daggers, cloaks and even second swords to assist with defense. A buckler is a small round shield that was used with other blades as well, such as the arming-sword. In Capo Ferro’s Gran Simulacro, the treatise depicts how to use the weapon with the rotella, which is a significantly bigger shield compared with the buckler. Nevertheless, using rapier with its parrying dagger is the most common practice, and it has been arguably considered as the most suited and effective accompanying weapon for the rapier. Even though the slender blade of rapier enables the user to launch quick attack at a fairly long and advantaged distance between the user and the opponent and the protective hilt can deflect the opponent’s blade when he or she uses rapier as well, the thrust-oriented weapon is weakened by its bated cutting power and relatively low maneuverability at a closer distance, where the opponent has safely passed the reach of the rapier’s deadly point. Because of such insufficient cutting power and maneuverability at this situation when the opponent passes the deadly point, this scenario leaves an opening for the opponent to attack the user. Therefore, some close-range protection for the user needs to be ensured if the user intends to use the rapier in an optimal way, especially when the opponent uses some slash-oriented sword like a saber or a broadsword. A parrying dagger not only enables the users to defend in this scenario in which the rapier is not very good at protecting the user, but also enables them to attack in such close distance.

An amazing ORIGINAL copy that comes ready for display!

Dimensions:
Blade Length: 35”
Total Length: 42”
Guard Width: 9”