Collectors of modern sports weapons face a bit of a dilemma. It’s almost impossible to tell a piece of recent scrap metal found in the back of the club armory from a weapon with at least budding historical value.
Luckily, some old fencing equipment catalogs provide a clue at dating and contextual placement. Like the 1938 catalog of Vince Fencing Equipment, Inc., which provides some clues to early sports sabers… Continue reading
For non-competition oriented forms of Central European cut fencing, this was the beginning of the end: Starting in the 1870’s, a diaspora of Italian fencing masters managed to displace, and then obliterate, traditional European cut fencing systems.
How, who, and why?
Read on! Continue reading
Posted in 19th Century, fencing, Saber
Tagged cabinet card, escrime, fencing, Italian saber, Saber, sabre, säbel, scherma, sciabola
Hungarian officers fencing saber
Italian-style competitive saber fencing had supplanted even the Austro-Hungarian saber schools before World War I.
Posted in 20th Century, fencing, Images, Saber
Tagged fencing, Hungarian saber, Italian saber, saber fencing
The Secret History of the Sword 