S Stamp on British Swords

Jim McDougall · 6th February 2021, 10:24 PM

As Adrian has noted, according to Robson (1996), the viewing marks were:
B= Birmingham
BR= Birmingham repair
E= Enfield
L=Liege
S=Solingen
W=Wilkinson

These used from c. 1820 and were a crown over letter and number (presumably inspector)under those.

The single capital letters as seen on Gill, Osborn etc. blades seem to have had some other value or meaning. As we have found, the use of these letters seem to defy logic or consistency.
With G we thought it was Gill, but the G was not on Gill blades, but was on Osborn, then the GG, again Osborn but with Gunby?
It seems there was a letter P which arose as well.
I recall the P occurring on North European blades (I think Swedish).
Somewhere in the esoterica of records there must be an answer.

While S for Solingen sounds simplistic, it does not seem far fetched when the volume of blades going through the bureaucratic web is considered.
Perhaps with large blocks of blades coming in from Solingen, a simple letter without all the usual protocol might have existed as an ad hoc provision for a period .

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6th February 2021, 10:24 PM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	As Adrian has noted, according to Robson (1996), the viewing marks were: B= Birmingham BR= Birmingham repair E= Enfield L=Liege S=Solingen W=Wilkinson These used from c. 1820 and were a crown over letter and number (presumably inspector)under those. The single capital letters as seen on Gill, Osborn etc. blades seem to have had some other value or meaning. As we have found, the use of these letters seem to defy logic or consistency. With G we thought it was Gill, but the G was not on Gill blades, but was on Osborn, then the GG, again Osborn but with Gunby? It seems there was a letter P which arose as well. I recall the P occurring on North European blades (I think Swedish). Somewhere in the esoterica of records there must be an answer. While S for Solingen sounds simplistic, it does not seem far fetched when the volume of blades going through the bureaucratic web is considered. Perhaps with large blocks of blades coming in from Solingen, a simple letter without all the usual protocol might have existed as an ad hoc provision for a period .