Hand and a Half Sword of Oakeshott Type XIIIa

Editor's Note: Like many, many swords from the late Dark Ages to the Rennaisance, this sword does not neatly fit into any Oakeshott category. Probably the closest fit is Type XIIIa. A reminder that sword makers did not have Ewart Oakeshott, a 20th century illustrator not trained in History or Archaelogy at a Tertiary level, in mind when making their swords.

A Composite German Hand and a Half Sword

First Quarter Of The 16th Century

Sold for £2,25

First Quarter Of The 16th Century

With broad double-edged blade (some pitting) incised with a running wolf and orb and cross mark (originally latten-filled) within the fuller over each face of the forte, hilt comprising tapering quillons of circular section each spirally-fluted over half their length to the tip, large written stopper-shaped pommel (button replaced), and bottle-shaped grip covered in brown leather

89 cm. blade

FOOTNOTES

For a related sword in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and formerly in the Bashford Dean and Theodore Offerman Collections, see C. Otto v. Kienbusch, The Kretzschmar Von Kienbusch Collection of Armor And Arms, 1963, p. 159, no. 334, pl. XCVII

For more information on Oakeshott Type XIIIa swords see this extract from Ewart Oakeshott's Records of the Medieval Sword: www.sword-site.com/thread/152/oakeshott-xiiib-records-medieval-sword

Source: www.bonhams.com/auctions/22991/lot/160/