Name/Title
RapierEntry/Object ID
2020.003.0001Description
SPANISH RAPIER AND LEATHER SHEATH
Rapier, 42 inches long. Made of Toledo steel with a gilded hilt. Maker mark is "Francisco Ruiz" and is stamped on blade.
SPANISH RAPIER AND LEATHER SHEATH c. 1690
Various fabrication "proof marks" have established that the blade of this Spanish sword was made by Francisco Ruiz, the Elder, in Toledo, Spain. At the time, the Toledo metal workers carefully guarded their secret production process for this blade which combined a hard, brittle steel with a softer, more malleable steel, much like the process used for Japanese Katana blades. The clamshell shaped guard was made in France of forged iron and gilded in the Royal workshops at Versailles, the royal court of the French kings. Some historians attribute the Spaniard's military success in the New World to this deadly weapon used in battle against the Mexican Incas and Aztecs. Although this rapier is from 1690, this model or similar would still have been in use by those Spanish military officers who traveled with the Franciscans as they made their way through California establishing the mission system during the mid- 18th century.Collection
Benicia Historical Museum Collection
