Adapted from the Wallace Collection's A644 rapier, this elegant pappenheimer style rapier features diamond-section S-shaped quillons with riband terminals, a carved knuckleguard, and pierced plates to both the ring of the foreguard and the swept of the counterguard. The elaborate piercework features the five-petalled likeness of a woody nightshade flower, which is mirrored not only in the carving of the pommel, but in the decor of the accompanying sail dagger. Lightweight and highly manoeuvrable, this pair will make for elegant sparring and precise drilling. Please see our pricing structure for an idea of what a similar sword would cost.
∴ Specs ∴
Sword
Weight: 1020g
Total length: 120cm
Blade length: 42"
Blade width at base: 2.5cm
Grip length: 8.5cm
Grip and pommel: 12.5cm
Quillon span: 23.5cm
Point of Balance: 14cm
Blunt edges
Rounded tip
Fencing flex
Dagger
Weight: 666g
Total length: 57cm
Blade length: 17"
Grip length: 10cm
Grip and pommel: 13.5cm
Quillon span: 22cm
Point of Balance: 2cm
Blunt edges
Rounded tip
Fencing flex
∴ Notes ∴
The hot-forged, heat-treated and hand-carved guards are oil-blackened to a matte finish. The custom-sized hardwood grips are entwined in braided copper and steel wire. The guards of both sword and dagger feature a hand-pierced woody nightshade-inspired lacework design, while the pommels feature carved petals.
∴ Gallery ∴
∴ A Bittersweet Thrill ∴
You kick absently at the grey slate wall, as anxious and impatient and full of desire as you ever are when you wait here. It is the furthest border of her father's lands - the nearest you dare go, or at least the nearest she'll have you. Sometimes she is already here when you arrive, impatient and impassioned. Other times you wait for hours before trailing forlornly home in the dark.
Over the course of the summer you've grown achingly familiar with the slick grey of the stone, the heart-shaped leaves and five-petalled blooms of the woody nightshade that climbs it. Bittersweet, your mother always called it, and warned you not to be tempted by its pretty red fruit.
You look down again at the sword and venture a little smile. You've been saving for months, and at last here it is, steely and sturdy and yours, emblazoned with the familiar five petals of the passion-hued bloom whose bower became your heaven. You asked for that especially, so that every duel would be won in her honour. So that nobody would know but the two of you. You can't wait to show her when she comes. If she comes.
You sigh, and the little purple flowers nod in the breeze.