Are there any republican-era reenactors?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

For one thing, hispaniensis blades almost always have rounded or sloped shoulders, so the inset plate that sits down on straight shoulders won't work. The few depictions of hilts that we have just never look like the Imperial types.

Keep at it! Valete,

Matthew

I have seen a plate, possibly a spatha plate, and a dagger plate, most likely 1st CenturyAD that are shaped to accommodate the curved base of a tang, which will snug right down onto the blade when the grip assembly is peened on. Possibly the hispaniensis plates were the same? It would seem to be a logical way of doing them.