2060 Katzbalger
2060) PUBLISHED RARE KATZBALGER SWORD 1520c EXCELLENT CONDITION:
Introduction: The Katzbalger was the signature sword of the dreaded Landsknecht mercenaries of Germany. This is a… blood-and-guts…slash and thrust… kill or be killed… fighting sword. The fighting theory of the Katzbalger is similar to the Roman Gladius: fighting up close and very personal. Few genuine Katzbalgers have survived, and hardcore collectors adore them. This rare officer’s-grade Katzbalger is priced to sell immediately at a significantly lower price than the European auction houses.
Publication: Schwert, Degen, Sabel, Helmut Gerhard Schulz, 1962, pages 18-19.
Discussion: The Katzbalger was designed as a pure, no-frills fighting sword with a total emphasis on combat. This utilitarian instrument of war was not made to look pretty unless owned by an officer, as in the rare example we are discussing today. The Katzbalger is a highly collectible sword that has barely withstood the ravages of time since, over the years, they were either:
- A) Melted for their steel.
- B) Re-hilted into another sword.
- C) Simply not given the care they deserve.
Katzbalgers can be one- or two-handed, with a unique and distinctive S-shaped guard. There are two primary theories on how this unique sword was named.
(A) It could refer to the act of carrying a sword without a scabbard to achieve a quick release. Hence, the idiom “held only by a cat’s skin” (Katze means “cat,” while Balg means fur).
(B) The word derives from “balgen,” which in German means brawling. The name refers to intense, close-quarters, brutal combat, imitating two feral cats fighting for dominance. The most widely accepted translation is “cat-gutter.”
The Landsknecht Mercenaries were founded by Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor. They were exceptionally well-trained troops available for hire. For over 100 years, they were the most dreaded and feared adversaries on the European battlefield and were responsible for numerous major military victories. One chronicler is said to have remarked that “the devil himself refused to let the Landsknecht into hell because he feared them so”.
Within the ranks of the Landsknecht were the Doppelsöldner (double mercenary), who received double pay. The Doppelsöldner were shock troops allegedly designed to break up the opponent’s military formation by cutting their pike heads with huge two-handed swords from the front line. Breaking the opponent’s military formation minimizes the opponent’s effectiveness on the battlefield.
Description: Constructed with a traditional Norman hilt 3 with a finial cap on the wide octagonal pommel in the shape of a star, gutter bursts originating at the finial and extending to the pommel edge, the hilt with a pair of curled quillons with opposite tips nearly touching, the grip of dark wood with a metal insert at the center decorated with gutters at the edges,
Its short rectangular ricasso and forte are decorated with a fuller approximately half the length of the blade; remnants of foliage on the forte, talismanic symbols at the end of the fuller, a wide blade very slightly tapering to a round, wide tip, tip may have been repaired, but not visible.
Condition: Very good. As you would expect from a 500-year-plus sword, it has some pitting on the blade, probably from being stored in a sheath at one time. Conserved/restored to museum standards.
Provenance: -From a Western European collection.
Comparable: See European Swords and Daggers, Duffy, 1974, Plate 17-B.
Conclusion: This is a….. blood-and-guts….. fighting sword. Few have survived, and hardcore collectors love them. I know I have three Katzbalgers in my personal collection. If this sword could talk, I would love to hear its stories. If you have ever wanted a real fighting Katzbalger, here is your opportunity. Act now; it should sell very quickly, and I don’t want you to be disappointed!!!*
Priced to sell immediately at much less than the European auction houses!!!
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–Free shipping.
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ACT NOW!!! If not, you will probably regret it later.