A Fine Dutch Walloon Sword of the Amsterdam Town Guard dating to circa 1650

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Price: £2,450

Ref: 42092698

Item Description

An elegant sword of the distinctive “Walloon” type made for the Amsterdam Town Guard in the mid-17^th century. The sword is in fine condition with the hilt retaining much of its original browned finish.

The hilt is typically formed from a bold quillon block with a scrolled wrist guard to the rear, and knucklebow to the front, swollen in diamond form at the middle, and fixed to the pommel with a screw through its flattened angled terminal. The flattened terminal of the curled wrist guard has a florette punched into the centre of one side. To the sides the hilt is mounted with asymmetrical side rings of crescent section each filled with a plate pierced with a pattern of eight-pointed stars and more numerous smaller circles. The quality hilt type, of well made rounded bars, represents the fruition of European “Infantry” hilt design with plated side rings that started in more rudimentary and munitions grade forms in the late 16th century.

The grip is of wood, slightly baluster in profile, attractively bound with alternating lengths of braided iron wire and with “Turks Heads” top and bottom. The bottom of the grip typically sits on top of a raised base forged from the block. To the inside, a thumb ring is attached to the upper outer edge of the smaller guard plate and loops over the inside of the plate to attach to the raised base of the block. The pommel is of slightly flattened ovoid form with integral button on top and flared neck beneath.

The blade is of usual form, long, double-edged, of lenticular section, tapering and with a stretched oval shaped fuller on each side, commencing a short distance from the hilt, extending for 7.5 inches (19 cm) after which a running wolf mark, most likely the mark of a Solingen based smith, is incised on both sides. Inside the fuller, various spaced capital letters bordered with quatrefoils of dots, form the word “S A  H A G V M”, which had numerous manifestations. On one side, between the hilt and the start of the fuller, the stamp of Amsterdam, a crown with a triple “X” mark below is present. The blade is just over 36 inches (92 cm) long and overall the sword is 42.5 inches (108 cm) long.

These swords were made for the Amsterdam Town Guard. At the time, Amsterdam was a great trading centre for the widest variety of commodities and manufactured goods, including arms. The arms dealers in Amsterdam provided the demand for onward shipment at home and abroad, and presumably England in the Civil War period, particularly for the Royalist side. Feasibly many of these swords were also made for export. The swords may have been made in Amsterdam by smiths who migrated from Solingen during the 30 Years War period. Dutch Walloons may have influenced the development of the English style of Walloon sword at the time.

The French captured a large number of these swords in 1672-73 in the Netherlands, and as a result introduced the “Epee Wallone” in the French army and thereafter supplied them to some of their own soldiers.

This sword is a particularly good example. Often the sprung plates are damaged or even missing on surviving swords. This example is in fine undamaged condition.