Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/162

Fig. 1559. A group of forgeries

(a) A sword described as of the XVIth century, but of no recognized form.
(b) Theatrical sword in the style of the early XVIth century.
(c) English forgery of a German sword of the end of the XVIth century.
(d) Italian forgery of a cup-hilted rapier.
(e) English forgery of a sword of unrecognized form.
(f) English forgery of a Landsknecht sword.
(g) Italian forgery of a rapier of XVIth century form.

collection of the late Sir Noël Paton illustrate this phase. But, as in the case of plate armour, a very much more skilful forgery was after a little time placed on the market. At a time when many famous collections were being formed, decorated rapier hilts, both of the swept and cup-hilted forms, were made, very tastefully worked and added to genuine blades, with the result that even in the Wallace Collection there are several weapons not wholly above suspicion. The mid-XIXth century fabricators also turned their attention to the weapons of the XVth century, but not so successfully (Fig. 1561). In many cases a weapon would have a genuine but plain hilt, upon which ornamentations were added. Such rapiers and swords may be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, at the Tower, and, as we have said, in the Wallace Collection. We figure two such hilts by way of illustrating a new decoration applied to an old hilt (Fig. 1562). We believe that the highest standard of workmanship prevailed in Milan about 1865-70—the period at which most of the finest re-enriched rapier and sword hilts were put together: we illustrate an example (Fig. 1563). Daggers of every kind, especially the cinquedea, which was the chief commodity dealt in by San-Quirine of Venice, to whom we have alluded, have all been forged in large