AN ENGLISH RAPIER, the slender tapering blade of flattened diamond section with central fuller on each face of the forte stamped with letters, iron hilt comprising shallow cup pierced and chiselled with foliated scrollwork involving grotesques, pairs of profile busts, probably representing Charles I and Henrietta-Maria, and cherubs, short vertically recurved quillons with fishtail tips (one replaced), oval side-ring with central medallion chiselled with a male bust, knuckle-guard with similar central feature linked to the cup by a pair of scrolls, ovoidal pommel chiselled with foliage, and original spirally grooved wire-bound wooden grip (wire-binding incomplete, worn and pitted overall), circa 1640