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Old 19th September 2023, 02:54 AM   #12
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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A thought on this unusual face marking. While the Wundes' of course did use the kings head in variation, there could be a possibility of the typical wry British sense of humor at play here.
With the running fox used apparently at Shotley Bridge, and later by Samuel Harvey of Birmingham.....seemingly a take off on the running wolf of Passau..perhaps such a parody might have been applied here. (a Wundes type kings head with green man wearing a crown).

The sometimes almost whimsical figures on hilts such as the mortuaries, as well as the green man figures mentioned.........it seems that gun makers often placed grotesque faces on gun butts, and they seem to have had their own favorites, perhaps even in the sense of markings. Gun makers were often cutlers as well, so possibly such a figure might have extended to blades in this manner?
Often makers marks did not reach the Cutlers Co. in London, but though tenuous seems somewhat possible,
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