I think thats a pretty good call, and thanks for updating the additional research Mark! While I can see where the band sword idea comes in with these quillon terminals, I think that deduction on the GN is most plausible.
The complexity of these theaters of the Napoleonic campaigns is pretty daunting, but I think this might well fall into the category you suggest. Possibly the best support would be these large daggers , daga da cacciatore (=hunting dagger) and found some reasonably similar but more austere versions from mid 19th c. ("Armi Bianche Militari Italaliene", C. Calamandrei, 1987, p.344. )
During these complex times it seems reasonable that special units charged with provisioning would be part of forces in place, and hunting arms were possibly decorated in the manner of the often flamboyant regalia well known with uniforms of these times.
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