[Hotspur]

Well, I think I would digress a far distance from the original ID part of this but let's just say it the evolution for the American market really started after the revolution and the Great Seal was being broadly published. Since that form was not finalized until late 1782, it is then really not until the 1790s that we start to see both larger birds and eagle blade decoration starting to appear.

Ironically, the bald eagle is not even well represented in the first Great Seal portraits with more and more created eagles appearing on the horizon.

Ketland was an arms broker as much as a manufacturer and the swords were not even made in his shops. Guns were his stock in trade on that end of the equation. Birmingham had many shops churning out parts for the swords before the war of 1812 and even during that conflict, swords were still getting through to America from England. Manifested as barrels and trunks of canes and umbrellas, ports on the eastern seaboard of America received throughout the war.

To complicate the large and small Ketland profile even further is when we see Berger from the Alsace and his Paris shop making smal head versions of the British castings. Bigger is better, so the larger crested eagles that are quite close in profile to the original form start appearing. Some directly from the continent and ala Salter S&K as agents, there is a fair amount of swapping going on.

I am not prepared to upload a lot more pictures in this thread, as I am on dial up but also that we will digress further. The Medicus collection book and Mowbray eagle book, along with Peter Tuite's naval book and the Hartzler Lattimer collection will show as much variety as any might then further explore. I can point the way and disagree at times but have no book of my own to offer at this time.

Here is an anomalous Berger pretty baby and an original Ketland type for comparison. Was it Starr shown in Medicus that also had a Ketland form? I forget. These are a good bit smaller than the later crested birds.

Cheers

GC