Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/127



Probably decorated by an Italian working in England about 1630. Collection: Mr. W. H. Fenton

English workmanship, about 1660. Collection: Mr. W. H. Fenton

richness, as, for instance, that on the example in the collection of Mr. W. H. Fenton (Fig. 1523). Here we see heavy incrustations of silver in the shape of terminal figures, amorini, etc., and, if we are not mistaken, these are probably the work of the same hand that decorated the basket hilt of that superb broadsword in the collection of the late Mr. Rutherfurd Stuyvesant (see Vol. iv, page 325, Fig. 1388), thus taking it back to the first quarter of the XVIIth century. Although it is incomplete, this is certainly the richest hilt of the type known to us. In swords of this kind the characteristic features are a flat cap-like pommel, a grip usually of unworked stag's horn, and a simple knuckle-guard in one with the single drooping quillon and down-curved shell. The blades are slightly curved, usually about 36 inches long and back-edged; occasionally the backs are serrated. Often the forged name of a famous blade-maker, of