An English Silver Hilted Small Sword by John Radborn of London Hallmarked for 1767 / 1768

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Price: £1,975

Ref: 52062507

Item Description

An English silver hilted small sword by John Radborn of London with hallmarks for 1767 / 1768.  The hilt is mounted with a dish guard which is exquisitely pierced and chased with rococo foliate scrolls between curling tendrils on both sides of filigree delicacy. The design is the common theme on the other major silver components of the hilt which attests to the homogeneity of the parts. The sword is well-balanced in  hand and the silver hilt is, unusually, in excellent condition having experienced almost no wear, and has maintained its shape without damage or repair.  The sword is mounted with a tapering hollow ground triangular section blade.

The hilt is an example of the high standards of design and execution required of the 18th century London silver hilt maker, as well as an example of one of the most effective weapons of the 17th and 18th centuries, which at this time was at the pinnacle of its evolution. Silver hilted small swords were fashionable attire for gentlemen. Mostly worn for effect, someone wearing such a sword was also announcing to the world that he was able to use it. Despite the stylish and often delicate appearance of these swords they were formidable dueling weapons.

The sword hilt is in excellent crisp condition without losses or repairs and has maintained its original pleasing profile. The shallow dish guard has a strengthened rim shaped as four crescents on the outside which supports the  chased foliate designs within. The ricasso, pas d’ ane rings, knuckle bow, quillon and pommel are pierced and chased in the same decorative style as the dish guard. The stamped maker’s mark of “I R” is present on one side of the knucklebow near the pommel in raised relief inside a depressed rectangle, accompanied by the crowned leopard’s head assay mark, the royal lion passant purity and date marks.

The baluster shaped rounded rectangular section grip is covered with spirally wrapped bevelled silver strip, separated by wrapped silver twisted wire, flanked by thinner ropes on either side. Silver cap terminals are present top and bottom of the grip engraved with scallops on each side. The tapering, hollow ground, stiff, triangular section blade is in good mottled condition and retains evidence of its original engraved foliate panels near the hilt.

John Radborn was one of the most gifted silver hilt makers and sword cutlers of his time.  He worked in the New Street precinct of the City of London for all of his professional life. He is first recorded when he was indentured to the cutler Nathaniel Young in 1737.  On the death of Young in 1742 he was turned over to John Smith for the remainder of his term and was sworn free of the Cutlers’ Company by servitude in 1745 when he probably entered his first mark at Goldsmiths Hall which is now lost. His first surviving mark was entered in 1762. On moving address in 1769 Radborn entered another mark which was very similar to the last to confirm the move. He was admitted as a pensioner of the Cutlers’ Company in 1776 and died in 1780.

For further information on John Radborn see Leslie Southwick “London Silver-Hilted Swords”, their makers, suppliers and allied traders, with directory, 2001, Royal Armouries, and particularly page 206 for the biography and examples of his work in plates 46, 66, 72-3, 74 and colour plate 3.

The blade is just under 33.25 inches (just over 84.5 cm) long and the overall length of the sword is just under 40 inches (101.5 cm).