A Black Watch Scottish Basket Hilt

[Jim McDougall]

As noted, my example of this type munitions grade hilt, which were produced in number for British infantry Highland units, were basically returned to stores after 1784. The infantry units turned focus to bayonets and other ranks no longer carried swords.

It seems that a number of these hilts, probably quite minimal, were remounted with curved blades, but undetermined whether for perhaps officers fighting swords, or equipping other ranks in esoteric ventures. I had seen passim something on colonial ventures possibly using curved bladed basket hilts, but cannot relocate that reference.

I have seen only one other example on a Pat Tougher catalog (1994) and again, another reference to one now misplaced.
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This image of Lt. Col. Muhammed Aslam Khan Saddozai, 1897, who was the first Muslim commandante of the paramilitary British force in the Khyber known as the Khyber Rifles (1887 redesignated from Khyber Jexailchis).
I got this during research on Khyber Rifles in 1984.

Note the turcael (= curved blade basket hilt, Gaelic) which seems to have been an affinity with some of these Afghan officers and officials.,