Horseman's sword or pallash of Hungarian type. The hilt is comprised of an inverted cone-shaped pommel with large button, the base faceted and of hexagonal section, the upper part decorated with interlaced basketwork, scrolls chiselled in low relief and russeted; grip of oval-section bound with shagreen; gaurd of diamond section, diagonally recurved upwards and downwards respectively, one being prolonged to form a knuckle-guard; the knob on the end of the other, and those in the centre of the guard and the escutcheon, are decorated with interlacements like the pommel; heart-shaped ring for the thumb, with straps extending over the grip and scabbard. On the other side tongues extend up the grip and along the blade resembling the projections found upon hilts of Eastern origin. Broad, flat blade, double-edged with rebated point. Scabbard covered with black leather, tooled with blind lines and fleurs-de-lys, mounted with three bands (the two upper bearing rings) and a chape, and shod with metal along the sides; the mounts are decorated with scrolls and panels of basketwork chiselled in low relief; the ground is matted with lines and has at one time been painted.
Hungarian, about 1650.
Jarnuszkiewicz, J.A.A.S., VI, pp. 179-80, pls. XXXVA and B; Jarnuszkiewicz, Szablia wschodnia i jej typy narodowe, 1973, pls. 122 and 122A.This sword is illustrated in a photograph in the de Cosson Scrapbook III in the library of the Royal Armouries, captioned 'Etlinger collection, Würzburg 1868'. The Etunger collection was sold by C. F. Forster in Wurzburg, 31 August 1868 and following days, but the descriptions are too brief for identification.