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A German Sword Of Justice Or Executioner's Sword image 1
A German Sword Of Justice Or Executioner's Sword image 2
Lot 167*

A German Sword Of Justice Or Executioner's Sword
Early 18th Century

23 May 2018, 10:30 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £5,000 inc. premium

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A German Sword Of Justice Or Executioner's Sword
Early 18th Century

With broad flat double-edged rebated blade (minor pitting) with central fuller on each side of the forte between etched scrolling flowering foliage, the fuller on one side etched 'Hütte, Dich Inhe Kein Bösses Nicht Wan Du Willt Fliehen Diß Gericht', a gallows beyond, and on the other 'Wan Dem Sunder Wirt Abgesprochen Das Leben So Wirt Er Mir Unter Meine Land Gegeben', a beheading scene beyond, brass-mounted hilt comprising straight swelling quillons of octagonal section with button terminals, faceted lemon-shaped pommel, and spirally-grooved leather-covered (leather incomplete) wooden grip bound with a strand of twisted brass wire between brass ferrules
81.9 cm. blade

Footnotes

Provenance
The Stanley Knight Collection, Meaford, Ontario, Canada

The inscriptions read in translation : 'Take care to do no evil if you wish to avoid this Judgement' and 'When the sinner is spared life, he is given into my hands'

For a survey of German 'Swords of Justice' and their inscriptions see Ulrich Kühn, 'Das Richtschwert in Bayern', Waffen und Koststümkunde, 1970, heft 2, pp. 89-126

For two related examples see Christie's London, The Eugen Nielsen Collection..., 31 March 1993, lots 168 and 169

Additional information

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