Hi! Hoping to appeal to your sword knowledge. The sword front and center looks too big for a people, was it really something someone used to hit people with? The little not very informative plaque called the basket hilts claymores and the little ones two handed swords. I think I remember from one of your sword posts that the claymore is like that, but are the little ones really called two handed swords? They look like I could carry one fairly easily and I'm fun sized! @sarafinadarkhart thinks the claymores were used in conjunction with the two handed, one per hand but then they wouldn't be two handed... would be delighted by any light you would be willing to shed, thanks
The information plaque needs re-worded for clarity, because those little brass-hilted swords definitely aren't two-handers!
I don't recognise their design, but they're part of the19th century "Neo-Classical" fad for Roman-style short swords.
Some had eagle-head pommels or curved crossguards, however the most popular design was issued by many countries.to their artillery, pioneer and engineer regiments: these four are (top to bottom) French, Russian, American and Swiss.
The big sword in the centre of your photo is definitely meant to hit people. It, and the basket-hilts on the rack, and the three in these photos, are all "claymores".
The word derives from Gaelic "claidheamh mór" and just means "big sword", because the basket-hilt and the two-handers (older than the basket-hilt by at least a century) were larger than the other swords of their respective periods.
I've seen occasional opinions that the basket-hilt should actually be called a "claybeg" (claidheamh-beag, small sword) because it wasn't as big as the two-hander. However, the Gaelic-speaking clansmen who carried basket-hilts at Culloden in 1746 called them claymores, and that's good enough for me.
If basket-hilted claymores were used in conjunction with something else, that would usually be a targe (small shield, sometimes with a spike in the centre)...
...and perhaps also a dirk (dagger), held like this:
The spike, if there was one, was often kept in a little sheath on the targe like the repro one shown here, and was screwed into place before battle.
Ridiculously oversized swords, though often claimed to belong to famous heroes or "giants", were in fact just for carrying in procession, hanging on the wall and generally Looking Impressive.
In this photo found on Reddit, the left sword is a Highland claymore (a weapon), the right sword is a Lowland claymore (a weapon) and the one in the middle is a parade / bearing sword (not a weapon).
It weighs 10kg / 22 lbs (!)
For reference, even the heaviest swords-for-use weighed less than half that.
HTH! :->
