Hello GC and Merry Christmas to you.
Out of respect for the holiday, no need to respond for now, just something that has been bothering me...
I've been mulling over your information and find it very conclusive as well. It makes sense that these were imported all along if for nothing more than that most of the existing 'marked' blades were foreign. Likewise, your point about the much more uncommon brass lion hilts points both to private purchase and probable foreign import. Now that that is behind us, on to the next uncomfortable issue mentioned before...
Is this private-purchase brass lion-hilt limited to just American cavalry? Was it sold to other factions of the early U.S. troops? Was it in fact sold over-seas via private purchase to other militia in other countries? Baselon insists in that earlier article that solid brass hilts were not popular in europe as the design flaw lay in the grip being slippery when wet with sweat. If we accept that the hilts were not made in America, that they were not the standard pattern but private purchase and that they were far less common, do we also open that door to uncertainty as to their ultimate use?