The Pezzoli Rapier and Dagger: Balefire Blades

This striking rapier and dagger set is based on an original rapier housed at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan. Departing from the feel of a standard HEMA rapier, our reproduction has been balanced to evoke the authentic handling characteristics of period weapons, as observed in various European armouries we've visited.

The rapier features a large hollow pommel, counterbalancing its wide, flexible blade. The resulting balance echoes the responsive, agile feel of 17th-century originals, with a lively yet controlled center of balance.

Aesthetically, the rapier follows the elegant simplicity of the original, featuring simplified ropework carving around the bars as a nod to the extant sword's more complex tooling. We added a filled and pierced port to increase the guard's finger protection.

While the extant rapier has no matching dagger that we know of, the main gauche we made for our reproduction is a true aesthetic pair, with matching downturned quillons, a pierced port and a grooved wire-wrapped grip.

Please see our pricing structure for an idea of what a similar sword would cost.

∴ Specs ∴

Total length: 122cm
Blade length: 107cm
Blade width at ricasso: 2cm
Blade width at widest: 2.75cm
Blade thickness at ricasso: 6mm
Grip length: 8.5cm
Grip and pommel: 13.75cm
Quillon span: 19.5cm
Weight: 1108g
Point of Balance: 15cm
Right-handed
Blunt edges & rounded tip
Fencing safe flex

Total length: 39cm
Blade length: 25.5cm
Blade width at base: 2.5cm
Blade thickness at ricasso: 6mm
Grip length: 9cm
Grip and pommel: 13.75cm
Quillon span: 14cm
Weight: 365g
Point of Balance: 15cm
Ambidextrous
Blunt edges & rounded tip

∴ Notes ∴

The hand-forged and heat-treated guards and pommels of both sword and dagger are blackened to a matt finish with differential polishing bringing out the decorative carved ropework on the rings.

The guard of the sword is formed of round-section bars, with two protective rings and downturned quillons that swell to the end with small buttons at the finials. The lower port is filled and pierced with a pattern of circles and petals.

The dagger's guard is forged and carved to match, with similar downturned quillons and a filled, pierced port.

The oak grips are carved with vertical grooves, then wrapped in steel wire with Turk's heads to top and bottom. Both pommels are mushroom-shaped with decorative lines carved into them.

The rapier's blade features two narrow central fullers, which continue the line of the grooves in the grip, and extend to a third of the blade's length.

∴ Gallery ∴

∴ A FIGHTING CHANCE ∴

You move through the masked ball like a ghost: through he scent of roasted chestnuts and burning oil, the easy hum of a string quartet and the polite chatter of gentry. Above you, the Duomo's spires claw at a dusky sky, marble edges stained pink with fading light. From atop those lofty towers, a bell begins to toll.

Your pace quickens, only slightly. The leather fox mask is pulled close to your face, its silk ribbon biting against your cheeks. Nobody marks you as you make for the shadows of the marble portico and, without a glance behind, slip into the alley beyond.

A flock of pigeons scatters before you, and through the veil of disarrayed wings you see it: an old merchant’s cart, just as the note said. Its wheels are cracked and its dirty awning sags low over its wooden bed. Checking over your shoulder to ensure you haven't been followed, you lift the crumpled canvas to find the promised tools: a rapier and dagger, laid out on a sun-faded piece of velvet.

You let out a low whistle. The pair are slender and lethal, their blackened hilts carved with steely ropework, their simple guards pierced with the six petals of the Rosa Noctis - a symbol that has long been outlawed in this city.

Your fingers close around them, surprised by the warmth of the wire grips, as if someone has only just laid them down.

A whisper finds your ear: “If you take the blades, you take the oath.”

Panicked, you jerk your head around. A cloaked figure slips soundlessly into a doorway.

Before you can think to pursue them, the clatter of armour cuts through the murmur of the party behind you. You see the crowd parting, alarmed, as the Duke's guards push through the masquerade, their faces grim.

They are heading straight for you.