A Very Rare Agate-Hilted 'Transitional' Small-Sword

A Very Rare Agate-Hilted 'Transitional' Small-Sword Circa 1645-80, Probably German Or Dutch With slender tapering blade of flattened diamond section, the central fuller on one side of the forte incised 'FRANCISCO' between marks, and 'RUIZ EN TOLEDO' between similar marks on the other, cruciform hilt comprising pear-shaped quillons made separately from the two-piece quillon-block, fig-shaped pommel, and baluster grip, narrow gilt-brass ferrules at the junctions between the parts cut and engraved as acanthus leaves, and gilt-brass rosettes at the end of each quillon (one replaced, the one at the pommel missing) 75.7 cm. blade Footnotes: Provenance Christie's South Kensington, Antique Arms And Armour, 27 April 1988, lot 41 For two related swords in the Waffensammlung, Vienna (inv. no. A1592) and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. no. M.14-1964) see A.V.B. Norman, The Rapier and Small-Sword 1460-1820, 1980, pp. 188-184, pl. 103; and Anthony North, An Introduction to European Swords, 1982, p.17, fig. 26 This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing