This elegant longsword looks at first glance like a work of fantasy, but it is strongly based in history, taking its Type XVIIIb blade and distinctive S-shaped quillons from the much-loved longsword at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich.
The addition of blacksmith-style twists in the quillons and a mushroom pommel with carved swirls make it truly one of a kind, while the ring guard adds a welcome degree of hand protection at the correct angles.
The sword was designed in close collaboration with our client, who sent beautiful sketches and outlined their study of Fiore de Liberi and Lichtenauer as a basis for the handling.
The sword is a pleasure to wield, with an extremely versatile balance for such an imposing weapon. The additional weight in the sword lends itself to authoritative cuts and thrusts, making it a wonderfully versatile tool for studying both early and late-period longsword treatises.
The selective polishing adds an ethereal aspect to the sword, which is reflected in the inscription our client chose for the blade. "Ignis Fatuus" is a term for a will-o-the-wisp, a ghostly light seen by lost travellers in European folktales.
Please see our pricing structure for an idea of what a similar sword would cost.
∴ Specs ∴
Total length: 133cm
Blade length: 96cm
Blade width at base: 3.8cm
Blade stock: 8mm
Grip length: 29.5cm
Grip and pommel: 35.5cm
Grip to guard: 9.5cm
Quillon span: 25cm
Weight: 1850g
Point of Balance: 7cm
Right-handed
Blunt edges
Rounded tip
Fencing flex
∴ Notes ∴
The hand-forged and heat-treated guard and pommel are blackened to a matte finish, and partially polished to add highlights. The guard is formed of square-section bars with decorative twists to the horizontal S-shaped quillons. The front of the sword features a simple ring guard.
The mushroom pommel features twisting carvings, mirroring the twists in the quillons. The oak grip is partially wrapped in linen thread and black kidskin, and partially in twisted steel wire, finished to the top with a Turk's head knot.
The blade features two short, wide fullers to the forte, and the phrase "Ignis Fatuus" engraved below them, with one word on each side of the sword.
∴ Gallery ∴
∴ A Luminous Call ∴
The night air is thick and cloying in the back of your throat as you trudge through the boggy woodland, trying not to think too hard about your sodden woollen socks, or the fact that you are lost.
The path beneath your feet has long since disappeared, swallowed by dark, damp earth and treacherous moss. More than once you have made a halfhearted leap for a tuffet, only for it to sink insubstantially into the mire.
Then, in the distance, a faint light flickers. Your heart flutters with hope, thinking it a campfire, or a lantern belonging to a traveller on the high road. You stumble toward the beacon of promised safety, swampy water sucking at your boots as you go.
But as you draw closer, the light seems to shift, drifting further into the trees. You shake your head, thinking it the product of a sleep-deprived mind, and follow the glimmer into the woods.
Again, the light is not where you thought it was, seeming to stem from somewhere still deeper in the dark copse. Fear begins to gnaw at your resolve - the same fear you've been keeping at bay since you lost the path in the bog.
Pulse quickening, you emerge from the forest into a moonlit glade. The phantom lantern is nowhere to be seen. Instead, leaning against a gnarled tree, stands a silvery longsword. Its quillons are square and twisted, its pommel carved like a spiralling mushroom, and the vestiges of eerie light linger about its blade.