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Originally Posted by urbanspaceman
I think the Mary Rose sword is the answer; I have to confess to complete ignorance regarding the Mary Rose but then I'm still very much climbing a steep learning curve in almost all aspects of arms and militaria.
Holland does keep appearing on the radar however.
Given our long standing (60 years) involvement in the Dutch/Portuguese war, it would not surprise me if those basket hilts (as posted) were exactly what Stone was supplying.
I suggested that after the other two wars recently ended that we may have needed serious re-arming, but perhaps Stone was re-furbishing arms returned home to rust.
The issue of the rapidity of supply by Stone is well taken: 3,500+ swords in two years staring from scratch seems rather unlikely.
There was a constant war going on between Stone and the Cutlers Company; it is probably impossible to establish the rights and wrongs of the issues, considering just how many issues there were in attendance at any given moment.
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I have had to reread much of the detail on the Mary Rose as I cannot claim any particular knowledge on this most historic shipwreck. However in looking through details today, I was surprised to discover there was not just one of the basket type swords, but several (which did not survive physically but details in concretion revealed their shapes etc) so clearly they were in use in numbers.
Similar types of basket hilt had been known in England even earlier, with examples found in the Jamestown colony in America in 1607, and one found in the wreck of the "Sea Venture" off Bermuda in 1609 (the inspiration for Shakespeares "The Tempest"). Mazansky did a radiological study of this sword in several articles.
From what I have understood, while Stone had membership in the Cutlers Co. he operated outside the jurisdictional boundaries, and as the Hounslow operation had been sanctioned by Charles I, he sort of had that in his favor so was basically left alone. The entire circumstances involving imported blades, swords etc. were wrought with intrigues, and the entirety of these matters for generations is clouded with mystery and deception, much of which you have set straight in your research and book. Yet much remains unclear, and may never be revealed for certain.
All of this has revealed the extensive and often complex development of the basket hilt leading to that of the Highland basket hilt which was actually earlier than often realized and apparently evolved in English and European contexts prior to the Scottish adoption in the now familiar forms.