LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Details

A GERMAN EXECUTIONER'S SWORD
Late 17th/early 18th Century
With broad double-edged blade flattened across the end, cut with a short fuller on both sides, etched and gilt with panels of strapwork interlace together with the sacred inscription 'I.N.R.I' on both sides at the forte, and also enclosing a rhyming couplet etched within the fuller on each face, gilt-bronze hilt comprising writhen straight quillons engraved with leaf patterns in the middle and cut with leaf mouldings and terminals, globular pommel en suite, and copper wire grip with faceted collars each retaining its original silk tassel.
32½in (82.5cm) blade

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

The couplets read: 'Die Herren Steüren Dem Unheil Ich Exequire Ihr End-Urtheil' and 'Wan Dem Sünder Abgesprochen Wird Das Leben So Wird Er Mir Unter Meine Händ Gegeben'.

In translation: 'The rulers check mischief, I execute their final judgement' and 'When the sinner is condemned to death he is given into my hands'.

For a comprehensive survey of German 'Swords of Justice' and their inscriptions see Ulrich Kühn, Das Richtschwert in Bayern, Waffen unt Kostümkunde, 1970, heft 2, pp. 89-126.

More from Antique Arms and Armour from the Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Jerome Zwanger

View All