ITALIAN GENOVESE REPUBLIC OFFICER'S FIGHTING SWORD CA.1790

This rare SERENISSIMA REPUBBLICA DI GENOVA officer's fighting sword is in superb original condition. It is mounted with a beautifully-forged 83 cm-long blade, which features an unusually long ricasso, decorated in delicate floral scrolls and the Genovese Republic coat of arms, stylized with military attributes. The massive hilt is iron, grip is ebony. In my estimation this piece dates ca.1785-1797, at which time, with French army's invasion, the eight hundred year old Repubblica ceased to exist, and the puppet Ligurian Republic was instituted by France in its place. Repubblica Ligura came to not in 1805, and Genova officially became part of France for the next ten years. A rare early Napoleonic sword!