This is an example of a sword with one of the earliest forms of Anglo/Highland Scottish guard - known in the the 17th century as an 'Irish hilt'- from which that of the better known Scottish basket-hilted claymore developed
See Blair 1981(i), passim
A very similar sword was in the collection of Claude Blair (see Wallace, no. 13; Blair 1981(i), figs. 113-115), now in the Royal Armouries, Leeds (inv. no. IX.2574)