I offer for sale an early, classic and fully developed, Scottish Basket-hilted Backsword, circa 1700.
The design of this rare sword closely follows example F15h (Marischal Museum sword, University of Aberdeen) as listed in Cyril Mazansky's book of British Basket-hilted Swords. The hilt has a rake to it, the guards are of circular section and the decoration is very simple, consisting only of pierced family A, type iv, hearts and circles. The pommel is a type V.
The hilt is fully formed from thick iron forged into main panels and guards, which are pierced with hearts and file-work decoration. The inner guard has been removed during the service life of the sword to aid use by a right-handed swordsman. The Pommel is bi-conical, finished on the outside and left rough on the inside, having a central groove. Rams horn terminals to the central guard. The hilt basket is loose and has been wired to the bottom of the grip, to prevent lateral movement of the basket. If purely displayed, this hopefully does not detract from the overall appearance of the sword
The grip is typical for this period of Scottish basket-hilted sword, made of wood and covered in Shagreen with spiral grooves to accept a wire binding. Both the binding wire and the internal hilt liner are now missing and the grip has suffered some minor damage during it's lifetime and there is some looseness to it. This is not to be unexpected as the sword is some 300+ years old.
The blade is in superb overall condition and is a typical Backsword blade for this model and era of basket-hilt (probably manufactured in Solingen, Germany). The 34 inch long blade is cut with a deep narrow fuller running along it's back and a broad shallow fuller underneath which extends to within 2 - 3 inches of the blade tip. There is almost no tarnishing to the blade and no damage, and it retains a good cutting edge. There is a false edge also, extending for about 8 inches. No makers marks are visible. The blade has some movement with the hilt.
Overall, a good example of a very rare and early Scottish fighting sword.
Provenance: This sword apparently came from an Estate sale many years ago.