AN ENGLISH BACKSWORD with slender tapering single-edged blade, iron 'mortuary' hilt with solid triangular guard (split, rust patinated overall) chiselled in low relief with conventional foliage framing grotesque masks, drawn out into a knuckle-guard and linked by two diagonal S-scrolls to a corresponding guard on the outside (one repaired), globular pommel chiselled with conventional foliage, and original wooden grip (wormed and incomplete, binding missing), circa 1640