16th-17th century AD. A rapier with a straight double-edged blade, ricasso and forte with a maker's mark of a stylised cross and rhomboid; the half-hilt with an openwork ricasso protector, straight guard and symmetrical quillons, oval-section handle with possibly later leather covering, flattened barrel-shaped pommel. See Oakeshott, E., European Weapons and Armour, from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, Woodbridge,1980; Tarassuk, L. and Blair, C., The complete encyclopedia of Arms & Weapons, Milano, 1989; Mauro, M., Armeria della rocca, Ancona, 1989; Scalini, M., A bon droyt, spade di uomini liberi, cavalieri e santi, Milano, 2007; L.,Vello, M. and Tonin F., I grandi spadai Feltrini e Bellunesi (Master Swordsmiths of Feltre and Belluno), Roma, 2017. 1.5 kg, 96cm (37 3/4"). The property of a private family; previously acquired from a collection formed before 1990; thence by descent; accompanied by an academic report by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato. Oakeshott (1980, p. 138, letters A and B) classified such rapiers as 'half-hilt' swords, having quillons, arms, one lower ring or equivalent guard, generally, as here, with a single loop back-guard. This weapon was the result of a probable modern collection composition using a German blade of the late XVI or early XVII century and combining it with a hilt and pommel from another sword. Fine condition.