German Estoc, First Half 16th C

Description

All steel construction featuring horizontally recurved quillons of diamond-section with
finials chiseled in the form of cockleshells. Quillon block with vertical grooves and turned
balusters transitioning to the quillons. Large pommel with button, chiseled ensuite.
One-piece steel grip, the lower half a tapered octagon and the upper half conical, with a
horizontal ridge in the middle. Hollow ground diamond-section 36 ½” blade with
engraved mark at the forte. Overall length 42 ½”. Steel grips were not uncommon on
swords during the 16th and 17th C. A German estoc of the same basic form, ca. 1525-
40, with quillons and pommel chiseled in a similar manner is in the Wallace Collection,
inventory #A505, illustrated in “The Noble Art of the Sword”, by Tobias Capwell, Fig.
1.06.