A SAXON RAPIER with tapering blade of flattened hexagonal section with ricasso and central fuller on each face of the forte stamped 'IHS', blackened iron hilt comprising guard with slightly arched quillons of flattened triangular section, the front two faces hollowed, the ends triangular, side-ring en suite framing a flat shell with heart-shaped piercings, arms, inner diagonal bar and thumb-ring with ring-shaped terminal, fig-shaped pommel of octagonal section, the edges marked by ribs between pairs of engraved lines, scabbard mouth ferrule with raised roped edge, and original shagreen-covered grip with cusped ferrules and longitudinal reinforcing-strips, late 16th Century