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Rapier: HEN.M.218-1933

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Unknown (Uncertain)

Entities

Categories

Description

Large ovoid pommel, vertically facetted (the facets are much worn). Knuckle-guard, loop-guards and five ring-guards of circular section. Long quillons strongly recurved vertically (in the plane of the blade) also of circular section. The back-guards are a mirror image of the five ring-guards and loop-guard forward guards. The lowest of the five rings on each side diminishing in size downwards, are filled with thin plates in place and are modern reinforcements for the older repair, where a small rectangular plate has been riveted across from one guard-plate to the other. This repair is only on the forward face of the hilt, and is not repeated on the back. Blade of flat hexagonal section with a short narrow fuller at the forte marked on each side 'TOMAS AYALA'.
Norman hilt type 68

Notes

History note: Mr James Stewart Henderson of 'Abbotsford', Downs Road, St Helen's Park, Hastings, Sussex

Legal notes

J.S. Henderson Bequest

Measurements and weight

Length: 128.0 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart

Dating

17th Century#
Circa 1625 - 1640

Note

(?) Italian style

This is a very heavy, clumsy sword of massive proportions, very handsome in appearance, but very heavy and slow in the hand.

Components of the work

Sword composed of steel
Ring-guard Length 10.0 cm
Blade Length 106.0 cm
Hilt Length 22.7 cm Width 2.5 cm

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: Tomas AYALA
  • Location: On blade
  • Method of creation: Inscribed

Inscription present: card tag

  • Text: 259
  • Type: Tag

Inscription present: metal tag

  • Text: 218H
  • Type: Tag

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.218-1933
Primary reference Number: 18944
Old object number: B259
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Thursday 6 February 2020 Last processed: Thursday 7 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Rapier" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18944 Accessed: 2024-11-19 08:45:12

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/18944 |title=Rapier |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-19 08:45:12|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-18944

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