Etched Spontoon for the Republic of Nuremburg, 18th C

Description

Featuring leaf-shaped head etched with an elaborate stand-of-arms on one face and
‘R.P.NORMBERG’ above the town arms on a stand-of-arms on the other. Molded
cross-piece and molded socket with a pair of short side straps; mounted on its original
textile-covered wooden haft with brass tacks, iron shoe, and green textile tassel. Length of
metal 22 ½”, overall 92 ½”. Spontoons like this were carried by color sergeants as a
symbol of rank and to protect the colors in case of attack. The greatest honor a soldier
could achieve was the capture of an opponent’s colors, so spontoons were often in the
thick of the fighting in 18th and 19th C European warfare. Price includes shipping in the
contiguous USA, the cost of which has doubled since Covid!

Nuremburg was at the height of its economic and cultural development in the 16th and
early 17th century. The devastations of the Thirty Years War, along with the shift of world
trade routes from land to the sea, led to its decline and loss of free imperial status,
becoming part of the Bavarian Kingdom in 1806.  ON HOLD