Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
Good note on the rose, and it seems I have seen this someplace but as yet unable to retrieve....what is the Solingen connection with rose on blade spine?
As far as I have known the British placed makers names on spines in the latter 18th through 19th, and some Austrian blades have them, as well of course as French.
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I don't think the significance of the rose is known yet, just that they appeared on Solingen-made blades around the late 18th Century and stopped showing up on blades around the 1820s when the style of cartouch on Solingen blades changed as well.
Some Rose marked blades have the maker or exporter logo in the cartouch, while others show just the cartouch.
Then again, the Rose is not always present on all Solingen blades either. J J Runkel had his name engraved on the spine, while one of my Dutch sabres has the Dutch cutler's name in its place. Smallsword blades don't seem to have it either, while I've seen it on spadroon blades.
There's a lot of variation in style as well, and we can say with confidence that the Solingen blade smiths were happy to change decoration to suit their buyers' tastes.