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Originally Posted by Victrix
...it looks to me like “F 53” which could be some sort of rack or armoury number?
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I thought the same when I first examined it, but the "F" is so well-defined that I doubt the following stamp, sloppy as it is, is alphanumeric or it would have been equally clear as the "F". Surely, whomever stamped the "F" would have done a better job of imprinting "53," should that have been their purpose.
That aside, I doubt that "rack numbers" we know from the Victorian age would have been used in the last half of the 17th century.
It strikes me as a stamp that was not cleanly impressed, perhaps indicating that it was one that may have been used on many other weapons before being applied to this hilt, hence the lack of detail. That's all conjecture, of course.
I'll try to render the graphic that I see, and I will post it in a bit.
Thanks for your input.