Lot 4673

Description

Sturdy, original sword blade of slightly flattened hexagonal section, circa 1600. Deep openwork fullers on both sides of the upper third. The sturdy ricasso with an unidentified smith's mark struck on the obverse. Lavishly openworked iron hilt, the bars shaped like chain links and separated by balusters with a finely chiselled mascaron. Fine embellishment of silver dot inlays. The grip with iron wire winding and Turk's heads. Sturdy, openworked pommel. Some of the surfaces with a dark age patina, in need of cleaning. The arms of the quillons slightly bent. Length 117 cm. Excellent copy of the famous rapier of Don Juan de Austria in the Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer in Vienna (A 1106). Kunsthandel Kahlert commissioned talented artisan metalworker Anton Konrad (1879 - 1938) to produce numerous magnificent edged weapons between 1925 and 1938, which were offered as originals by Kahlert at international auctions and fetched high prices at the time. It was not until 1948, ten years after Konrad's death, that his works were finally identified as forgeries in an article by Hans Schedelmann. However, due to their excellent quality, they are still highly valued today and regarded as some of the best international edged weapons of the late historicism era. See Hans Schedelmann, „Kahlert – Konrad. Zur Geschichte eines der grössten Fälscherkomplotte im Waffenhandel, Gefälschte Blankwaffen, Vol. 2 of the Kunst und Fälschung series, Hannover 1980.

Condition: II Questions about the lot?