[urbanspaceman]

I came across the American Society of Arms Collectors website and an article by Jeffrey Ross on 'The Evolution of the basket hilted sword form from the 16th to the 18th centuries'.
I am sure this society is well known to you all.
The article is most informative and shows excellent examples of basket hilts.

Again, I am certain this is all old news to most of you but it is fascinating new territory to me and continues the input from you folks to establish what was almost certainly the Stone 'baskets' of 1631. See below.
The first from 1550 is described as either English or Scottish.
The second from 1590 is Scottish.
The final from 1625 is English and probably what Stone supplied.

The question that remains unanswered is: was Stone able to produce the numbers of 'new' swords he claimed. He invested heavily at the start (£8,000) and may well have been up and running rapidly enough to supply the "1,000 complete swords a month, of equivalent quality at a lower price than German imports"; the king certainly believed him.

What is especially interesting to me is that Birmingham blades were appearing at The Tower at that time (1630) and were universally declared as unacceptably inferior. A century later they had not improved much; it took the arrival of Shotley Bridge smiths to raise the standard.
The Oleys arrived there soon after:
the first indication I have found so far is William Olley (sic) in 1738. William was a second generation (born 1699) Shotley Bridge forger.
It has long been obvious to me that someone brought high quality forging techniques into Birmingham.
I am wondering if perhaps Olley established his own forge down there and supplied local swordsmiths... hence the appearance of the Oley symbol of the Bushy Tailed Fox.

I fear I have moved beyond my initial subject.