leather scabbard tooled with greater delicacy than any with which the present writer is acquainted. Indeed, it is of almost equal excellence as regards workmanship with the famous Caesar Borgia scabbard in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see Vol. ii, p. 272, Fig. 649). The blade of this cinquedea is admirably etched and gilt with mythological figures; though in a far better state of preservation, it much resembles the blade of the Tower of London example, as we have previously remarked. The cinquedea, J 776 (Fig. 860a), is also a fine specimen complete with its scabbard, though perhaps a little heavily proportioned in its hilt. Down the side of the grip runs the inscription:—HEROES EFFICIT SOLA VIRTVS. In the same museum is a smaller form, J 775 (Fig. 860c), of the cinquedea, but complete with its scabbard. All three examples date within the last years of the XVth century.
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Fig. 863a. Cinquedea
Said to have been presented by the Emperor Charles V to Francis I Collection: Prince Colloredo of Prague
In the Louvre, beside the Gonzaga cinquedea to which we have referred, there is an excellent example, complete with its scabbard (Fig. 861). This is a superb weapon, but from a hand unfamiliar to us. In the Ressman bequest to the Bargello Museum, Florence, is a cinquedea (Fig. 862) of the ordinary proportions as regards the shape of the hilt, but with a blade decorated in
