An original and scarce c.1690 Transitional Rapier Smallsword. Probably English or French. With brass D-Guard hilt and polished wooden grip. The long blade is of slim, fullered, rapier type of the early 17th Century – it is likely to have been an earlier blade added to a later transitional smallsword hilt (at the time of manufacture) the form of which was taking over from the rapier hilt in the last years of the 17th Century. Attractive piece. Blade length is 33.5 inches (38 inches overall).
