Old catalog questions

[HDG]

I just un-earthed a 1940 Castello catalog, and it raised a number of questions:

1. When did martingales cease to be mandatory for all weapons?

2. When did we (in the US at least) stop using the term "dueling sword" and switch to epee; even in this catalog which is post-electric, Castello still uses the former name.

3. What's the story with all the variants of the Italian grip? They offered a "French-Italian" (Italian-style cross-bar w/ french handle), a "Hungarian-Italian" (oval shaped guard), "Italian Pini Model" (squared off cross-bar) and "Italian Barbasetti" (diagonally mounted cross-bar).
I think it's interesting how these varieties have been winnowed down to pretty much a single design due presumably to lack of popularity.

4. Castello also made fishing rods?!

[riceboy]

I just un-earthed a 1940 Castello catalog, and it raised a number of questions:

1. When did martingales cease to be mandatory for all weapons?

According to this the it was manditory up till 1995. I have heard that it was banned following a death? at which point the FIE banned it. In the US, this ruling was extended to all forms of wrist straps and was then lifted 6 months later. It seems that the ban has been lifted completely now.

*snip*

3. What's the story with all the variants of the Italian grip? They offered a "French-Italian" (Italian-style cross-bar w/ french handle), a "Hungarian-Italian" (oval shaped guard), "Italian Pini Model" (squared off cross-bar) and "Italian Barbasetti" (diagonally mounted cross-bar).
I think it's interesting how these varieties have been winnowed down to pretty much a single design due presumably to lack of popularity.

This came up in my classical seminar last weekend. Apparrently, the Italian Grip was actually quite popular up until the 1960s and the advent of the pistol grip. Since then it's use has dwindled to virtually nothing.

This is why pictures of fencers from the middle of the century often show them with Italian Grips (the one that comes to mind is the German Helene Mayer). It was popular for much the same reason as the pistol grip is now: a firmer grip than the french, allowing for stronger blade actions.

There were apantly many variants, though i'm surprised that the diagonally mounted one would be called the "barbasetti". I'm looking at my copy of Barbasetti's manual and he seems to prefer the normal Italian. I have heard though, that the Greco school of the 1980s used the diagaonally mounted italian grip to facilitate the use of the flick, since the hand was in a better position.