Hi Derek,
I sure would like to see the illustration of Bonnie Prince Charlie wearing what must appear to be a kastane also. It seems it would most likely be a hanger of some sort, as one of these in Scotland seems unlikely. I know that many exotic weapons turned up in the Netherlands though, clearly from the Dutch East India Co. commerce in those regions, so who knows?
The history of the kastane itself is obscure, however as a weapon form, actually with focus on the hilt, the earliest known example with the 'sinha' (lion) head and distinct quillon arrangement is held in Tokyo. This sword is provenanced from the Keicho Mission of 1613-1620, which was a diplomatic mission which visited many foreign ports. It is unclear whether the mission actually obtained the kastane in Ceylon (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) or whether it was obtained via another trade location. In any case its provenance does set the hilt form to early 17th c.
In my opinion, the distinct quillon system reflects hanger hilts from earlier Italian sabres known as 'storta' which were widely diffused via the Venetian traders (see "A Late 15th Century Italian Sword", A. North, The Connoisseur, London, 1975). These hilts in turn developed on European hangers of the forms seen in England, Germany and the Netherlands. Many of these later featured lion heads it is uncertain whether the sinha from the kastane may have prompted the European versions. It does seem that these distinct swords may have developed from the considerable trade contact of these powers, and may have been adopted in form in the early years of the 17th c.
It is indeed interesting that with the steel production so prevalent in Sri Lanka from ancient times that they became so reliant on the foreign blades in the case of the kastane. Many examples I have seen seem to consistantly carry VOC (Dutch East India Co.) blades and if memory serves, most of those have dates stamped in 1760's. I do agree that the kastanes do seem to date from 18th century and possibly as noted to c.1815.
Best regards,
Jim
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