English blade or Indian one?
 

I have big suspicions that it is no "fox' mark" and may be it is no the English broad sword but the Indian origin blade. Maybe I wrong?

It is suspiciously similar to the markings on Shotley Bridge swords.
Google it.

I posted a REAL mark of Shotley Bridge swords. Is it similar? May be there were other marks of Shotley Bridge swords?
May be you are right. Well. I am going to ask in European Armoury. Thanks.

Hi Mercenary,
British swords are not my area of interest, but I know very superficially their history.
They were a GROUP of Solingen swordmakers, and there wasn't a single marking . Just a quick scanning of Internet produced a wide variety of those, all on SB swords. I am sure there must be more.
European Armoury is a good choice, although there are several peolple here who are likely to be well informed.

It's Samuel Harvey, Brittish 17-18th c.

Kubur:

Which mark are you referring to--do you mean the mark on the sword that is the subject of this thread?

Ian.

Hard to judge from the photos but to my eyes, the blade in the original posting looks Indian.
Also the marking is of much better quality and of significantly different shape than those of European origin.
So I'll dare to speculate it is an Indian blade trying to imitate the European blades. :shrug:

PS: The blade also looks almost like having an Indian ricasso. :shrug:

Marius said it. Could we not have some more informations about the blade?
One or two edged, length, ricasso or not and so on.
I know the hilt is not in question, but is it decorated, or maybe silver plated?

This is all:

Does this mean that you have not seen the sword?

What you have seen is a picture and a description from a catalogue?

I did not see the sword. It is an item from catalog. And now we will never know if it is the Indian blade (Marius said it and I fully agree with him having only this photo) with a beauteful artistic picture that is NOT an imitation of European mark but just a magnificent creature of Indian art. Now it is forever "English blade" with a never existed "fox's mark".

I have seen many examples of wrong labeling even in very prestigious museums. So nothing new.
That's why I believe we must use all bibliography with extreme care because many books/ catalogues are littered with errors and we risk propagating them even further.

Mercenary, I have spent the last two days going through my books and online searches for a similar "fox" mark and found nothing. There is a little information on the European Armoury forum about the "fox" marks on British swords, but none of those associated marks looks like what you show on the mystery sword. I think your conclusion is correct--this is not a British mark and blade, but an Indian one with an Indian mark.

Ian

Ian, thank you very much and especially for your time. I have not known nothing about European blades and marks but I have seen Indian palm squirrels enough. It is good that there is an Indian (most likely) blade with such an unexpected picture.