I added a red buffer cloth to the basket as it would have had back in the day. This sword is still the gem in my collection; untampered with, intact and dating to the period of Culloden- 1730-40's. I've done some research on the king's heads as far as the Wundes family. This particular mark found on mine has several cousins that can be seen in "Culloden: The Swords and the Sorrows". Many of the German blades had the king's heads interspersed with 'Andrea Ferrera', some just have the name, while others have just the heads. It was noted that the Weyersburg smiths began using the king's head stamps in later (second half 18th c.) on their blades, but their stamp is very different from the earlier marks. Some of the blades pictured in that reference (taken from swords at the museum in Glascow) had very weak markings of the Fererra name, which makes me wonder if mine might have had that marking, but it got polished off over time. In any case, a great survivor of the time period!
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