[ham]

Tim, before you sip that bitter have a look at this:
An early-mid 18th century German hunting sword fitted with a heavy double edged blade. Note the close similarity in the guard, also the one-piece grip.
There is another similar with a different form of blade ending on eBay shortly. When it does I will attach the link for further comparison.
Your observation regarding hunting and the aristocracy is a reasonable one. What it does not take into consideration is that though such swords began as hunting implements, they quickly became popular with officers and then, as is usually the case, with common soldiers as sidearms. Further, we are not seeing the sword above in its pristine state. The hilt parts are heavily worn-- note the corrosion on the ferrule. By contrast, the guard is bright. It has been cleaned over time, so that any embellishment which would originally have been found there is long gone.


Ham