I'm dating this hunting sword to the second half of the 17th century - early 18th century. The hilt is gold-washed brass, with nicely-executed decorations, featuring the repeating lion motif.
Blade is 50 cm. long, engraved with a gold-filled hunting scene featuring a stag and a wild boar being chased by two large hunting dogs, while the hunter is observing the chase through his looking glass. Hunter's costume is 17th century in style. Original scabbard survives, with period repair to leather pocket for the byknife compartment. The upper portion of the scabbard is weak. The byknife is long gone.
A short poem in German is engraved on the front side of the blade:
Der schnelle Lauff nicht hilft allein
sonst wolte ich entflohen sein
, which I translated into English as:
It didn't help to run quickly,
Although I wanted to escape.
The repeating lion motif may point towards one of the Scandinavian countries. I have encountered a hirschfanger with a similar hilt in Copenhagen's Tøjhusmuseet.
A very similar scene is present on the blade of a ca.1670 hirschfänger made by Peter Wupper in Solingen, currently in the Bolk collection, in the Netherlands.
A beautiful, rarely seen North European hunting sword.