those mysterious Colichemardes

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

It is mysterious Jim. Such an elaborate rendering of the Passau Wolf is entirely possible on an expensive blade down in Austria at that time. I will keep looking, because the fact that an almost identical rendering was used on a 1760s colichemarde suggests it may not be entirely alone.
ps
The talismanics are typical of Passau blades back in the 1620s; not just Solingen.

Such are the mysteries of arms! Gardiner seems reasonably meticulous in his material, so there would seem no reason for this to be inaccurate. To take this to another level, could an Austrian maker from Stehr have been among those fleeing the aftermath of the Thirty Years war into England? Stehr was the center of the Peasants war (1626) trying to overthrow the Bavarian rule, also there were problems with collapse of iron resources.

Tenuous yes, but possible. As you note the talismanic number 1414 was one of the most commonly used in Germany, and ironically often appeared with the 'running wolf' in Solingen. It is tempting to note that Austria in these times was virtually a hotbed of magic and occult influences (East European) which then were absorbed into German contexts.

It would not seem a far stretch for this rendering used in Austria to extend into the shops in Shotley at some point, then adopted by Oley, as noted used by Bewick the artistic engraver.