Tis a nice blade, just a bit out of my price range. I have not seen that type of secondary quillions either, but from the picture I do not see any markings where a bell guard would have been attached.   Is also a 37 inch blade, I would have expected a bit shorter blade length. I guess I am going to save those pictures and see what how close I can get to making one similar to it out in the workshop.

YIS,
Feodor

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Zakes <DonTivar@...>
To: serapier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 10:23 pm
Subject: RE: [serapier] Blades on ebay

At 09:32 PM 1/1/2008, you wrote:

Here's the one I want:
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/Unusual-Italian-Rapier-ca-1640_W0QQitemZ190176562776QQihZ009QQcategoryZ1552QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118#ebayphotohosting

That *is* unusual. Those curly secondary quillons are--at least in this configuration--unique in my experience. I wonder if they were some sort of pas d'ane supporting a bell guard that has been lost over the years? That'd make some sense if it's dated to 1640, but I've never seen a smallsword where the quillons and pas d'ane are separated like that.

        -Tivar Moondragon
                 Ansteorra

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