English Late-17th Century Naval Hanger Sword

This is a truly unusual and possibly unique sword that is quite intriguing and of extremely early date. It is of relatively small proportions and likely that it was carried as a form of short sword or large dirk type weapon. I have given it a naval attribution as its style is reminiscent of very early naval hanger type cutlasses. The blade is very interesting and bears two deeply stamped marks of a crown with the letter “C” underneath. This style designation is seen in coinage of the period that was minted during the reign of King Charles II (1630-1685) and I am pretty certain that the blade is therefore of military issue. It is flat-backed and curved and attached to a simple iron hilt with a staghorn grip. From looking at the pommel we can see that both blade and hilt have been together for a considerable period of time and likely to be original to eachother and both dating from the end of the 17th Century. The sword comes with an iron scabbard. This is one of the earliest examples of this sword type that I have ever come across.