A NORTH GERMAN SWORD RAPIER, CIRCA 1560, PROBABLY BRUNSWICK with long tapering slender blade of stiff-diamond section, stamped with the bladesmith's mark on one side, steel hilt comprising a pair of straight flattened quillons with spatulate terminals, outer ring-guard swelling towards the centre, formed with a point top and bottom and filled with a solid plate, inner guard formed of a diagonal bar joining the quillon to a short lower arm and with a thumb loop, and square cushion-shaped pommel, and early grip of plaited wire and 'Turk's heads' (the upper Turk's head replaced) 105.5cm; 41 1/2in blade Provenance The Property of a Gentleman, Sotheby & Co., 19th May 1970, lot 96 A number of military rapiers and estocs with hilts of this form are associated with the armoury of the Dukes of Brunswick, sold Sotheby's Hanover October 2005, lot numbers 218, 220 and 221. The hilt conforms to Norman type 12.