Question about 1804 British naval cutlass.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

Just caught up with this thread.
Yes I agree both these look good and I have not seen a 12 inspector's mark before either, but it looks like it could be one.

Remember, May and Annis were wading through centuries of paper documents back in 1970 (no web) so the fact that Viewer's Marks for 1, 3, 4, 6, and 8 were recorded as being made in 1788 does not rule out others.
In 1808 another 20,000 1804s were ordered. This order included four new manufacturers and in total there were nine companies recorded as making 1804s with only five of them linked to specific Marks by May and Annis.

It's a pity there is no clear crown above the 12 so we have to wait to see if another turns up. If it does this will be a rare cutlass!

Brilliant research and data CC!!! Thank you for sharing those insights. There is so much obscure information out there in these venerable old references that are not available to many collectors and these books are expensive when and if you can find them.