A Scottish Basket Hilted Sword of “Irish” type dating to the second quarter of the 17th century

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Price: £4,650

Ref: 52041602

Item Description

A scarce Scottish basket hilted sword of early form mounted with a robust double edged blade. This is a noteworthy representation of its type in original condition. It is best described as an “attic find” having obviously been locked away somewhere for a very long time. It has a rusted russet patination and one of the guard arm terminals is bent near the pommel. It retains its original parts and unusually has never been restored or overly cleaned. The sword retains its scabbard evidently once broken through near the hilt and now repaired.

This sword form evolved in the early part of the 17th century and was used by Scots through to the English Civil War periods and later. It is the ancestor of the fully developed Scottish basket hilted swords of the later 17th and 18th centuries. Early 17th century English sources refer to this sword type as “Irish” due to its evolution in the Gaelic speaking culturally different regions of Highland Scotland and Ireland whose people and language were generally grouped as “Irish” by English commentators. The English adopted this template of sword and developed it further along slightly different “English” lines.

The hilt has small rectangular frontal guard plates engraved inside with pairs of parallel lines to create diamond shapes.  Notches are cut into the sides of each plate marking the beginning of the trend of Scottish sword makers to file frets and merlons into the edges of guard plates which became more complex and decorative on later swords as guard plates became larger. The dome-shaped pommel has a groove chiselled around its circumference just below its middle intended to secure the guard arm terminals. The pommel has a flattened circular button on top from which three pairs of triple lines radiate outwards and terminate at the pommel edge. The flattened butterfly shaped merlon bars at the sides strengthen the hilt structure by joining the main guard bars and are decorated with lines in fans.

The spirally grooved baluster shaped wooden grip lacks binding and retains a small part of its original leather liner at the base and leather washer and woollen fringe at the top.  

The original scabbard mouthpiece has a moulded brim at the top and a fretted base. The chape is decorated with lines and scallops at the edge. The scabbard is stitched along the middle of the inner side and retains its two scalloped iron suspension mounts on the outer side which are of early form. The scabbard tip has been reinforced at its join with the chape. The scabbard retains remnants of its original lined decoration.    

The double-edged blade is of lenticular section and gently tapers to its tip. It has a double fuller which extends for 8 inches (20 cm) from the hilt each containing the armourers’ marks of ANDRIA FARARA separated and flanked by crosses now deep in the patination and unclear. An incised running wolf mark is present just beyond the fuller terminals on each side. The shoulders of the blade slot into a shallow aperture purposely cut to secure the blade underneath the cross hilt.

The hilt resembles the basket guards of a number of Scottish swords illustrated in Cyril Mazansky’s “British Basket-Hilted Swords” (Boydell Press 2005), and in particular references D9, D10, D10a and D10b on pages 80 to 82. These swords have similar hilt structures and engraved line patterns to the frontal guard panels and side guards. These swords are housed in various important collections including Blair Castle in Perthshire, the Marischall Museum in Aberdeen, and The Royal Armouries. Two further similar swords housed in the National Museums of Scotland, are illustrated in John Wallace, Scottish Swords & Dirks, 1970, Arms and Armour Press, figs 23 and 25.

For a further in depth examination of this sword type see: Stuart C Mowbray, “British Military Swords”, Mowbray Publishers, 2013,  section 10 entitled “The So-Called Irish Hilt Sword, pages 110 to 126, for examples similar to our sword, particularly that shown on pages 114 and 115.

The blade is just over 33.5 inches (85 cm) long and the overall length of the sword is 39.25 inches (99.5 cm).