What about this other museum pieces?
And you are sure that is not ceremonial swords? They have a horrible balance.
Nope, this type of sword is designed to fight in very tight quarters and it was really popular in Venice (were there are a lot of alleys)
As I understand it was the cinquedea knife and short sword a
Civilian weapon, used by very rich people in Venice and Northern Italy during the Renaissance. The length was commonly 45 cm, but it could vary from ca 25 cm to 70 cm. In short, not much for a sword made for battle. Compare to other knifes (that it replaced), it gave ugly cutting blows. But it isn't much more then a brutal knife when it comes to it. Its main purpose was to thrust and stab. Due to its poor balance its user are at great disadvantage in a fight against a ordinary sword.
So back to my original post, it isn't designed to be used as a fighting weapon by a warrior. The blade is too short, and not very well balanced. This is a weapon for civilians, during the 15th and 16 centuries. It has a decorative purpose more then anything. It was used during a period that comes after Early and Mid- Middle Ages which is the era Tolkien had as an inspiration and reference for his world. In other words, this type of knife or short sword doesn't fit no matter how we cut it.