Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
This is an amazing thread, and again Radboud, I thank you for initiating it.
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Thank you for the comments and feedback Jim.
(The comments below are limited to include a very specific time frame; from about 1770 to around 1820. As technology and the needs of the clientele develop, supply and production methodology develop as well.)
I think the Caissagnard connection is interesting as well, as from the surviving examples we have, it is clear he liked to repeat the same three motifs of sword arm, sun and moon on his blades.
This is the information I have on Caissagnard, who worked as a furbisher
CASSAIGNARD
Pierre Cassaignard was born in 1708 and died in September 1786. In 1734-1737, he was appointed juror of the Maîtres arquebusiers. It was his son (first name unknown) who settled in Nantes where he worked as a furbisher from 1774 to 1812. The signatures are handwritten with embellished capital letters and found as follows:
Cassaignard / Md / Fourbisseaur / a Nantes
- A Marine officers sabre
Cassaignard / Fourbisseur / du Roy / a Nantes
- A sabre a brass hilt
Cassaignard / Fourbisseur / du Roy / a Nantes
- On the ricasso as for the previous inscriptions and higher
a la victoire
- Ensign (trade name?) of Cassaignard on the blued smallsword possibly for a Marine officer
Cassaignard / Fourbisseur / du Roy / Maitre arquebussier / pres la Bourse / a Nantes
- On a sabre belonging to an officer of Marine troops engraved with sun, moons, stars
Cassagnard / Fourbisseur / du Roy / et Arquebussier pres la Bourse / a Nantes
- Note different spelling of name, found on small sword with pas d ane guard 1755 - 1780
Armes Blanches
Symbolisme, Inscriptions, Marquages, Fourbisseurs, Manufactures
By Jean L'Hoste and Jean-Jacques Buigne
Pg. 181
As a furbisher Cassaignard is unlikely to have manufactured his own blades. So then the question is, did he source complete swords or blank blades and apply the fittings and decorations himself, or did he acquire the blades decorated to his specifications and then apply the fittings? Keep in mind that he also sold firearms, making it less likely he did any work himself, acting more as an outfitter than a producer.
While admittedly, my understanding of the process that turned steel into a complete sword ready for sale is limited, I do know that it involved several stages with components passing through multiple hands (even borders) along the way (the extreme example of this is Indian steel getting used on a Viking sword, so it's been this way for centuries). We also see the growth of complementary industries building around key competencies. Such as steel works and bladesmiths in Toledo around high-quality ore deposits.
It is reasonable then to assume that if the Solingen blade smiths didn't decorate their works themselves, there would have been craftsmen on hand to pass them on to, along with cutlers to fit the grips and scabbards. This group of craftsmen would then have worked hand in hand with the authorised merchants to facilitate the negotiations between client and producer.
The actual decorations were applied with a stencil, so it wouldn't have been too difficult for a customer and middleman to agree to a design and then order a quantity of blades complete with decoration. We see evidence of this in the indifferent spelling of English names on Solingen-produced blades of the 19th Century.
I personally still believe that a good number of Solingen exported blades were supplied complete with decoration applied. I'm sure they supplied blanks as well, being merchants first and foremost, but the large number of surviving blades with very similar decorations that can be attributed to Solingen, but used by different countries makes this the most plausible explanation.
Especially when the local craftsmen have a distinct fashion of their own. The most striking example of this is the J J Runkel imported blades. Aside from the GR cypher and the British Coat of Arms, the decorations on these blades are strikingly plain against what the British sword makers are producing, with their charging horsemen, angelic figures and Britania with her shield. The same can be said when we compare the two S&K swords shown above against their French-made contemporaries. They look like mass-produced swords kept as generic as possible to appeal to a larger number of buyers.