Please help on 1796 HC sword marks

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Richard

Hi Fernando

Of course I bow to your knowledge of Portuguese Royal cyphers! Do you think that JR might not be Prince Regent Joao? or maybe JR is the British interpretation of what the cypher should be? The sword is not unique, I know of another exactly like it where the GR is still just visible under the new JR cypher. And of course, I am speculating that it was carried by a British officer in the army of Portugal, no-one can know for sure - but it is an officer's sword, not a trooper's sword which means it was not a government issued sword but bought by private purchase by an officer. The blade is by Runkel Sohlingen which puts the date of manufacture from 1796 to around 1800 (after 1800 the "h" was dropped from the spelling of Solingen on Runkel's blades). So it was certainly used by an officer in the British army before relocating to Portugal!

Fernando, I'm not sure what you mean when you say the hilt is not like "the current model"? Do you mean that its not like the disc hilt being discussed in this thread? If so, its because this hilt is the version for officers, sometimes called the "ladder hilt" or "first honeysuckle hilt".

Richard

Well, i am not such a specialist (at all), but the JPR monogram is what you massively see around, when it concerns this monarch's cypher, assuming that his contextual activity was more reflected while he was a prince, i would say.
On the other hand, the initials JR would fit to JOANNES REX, if such cypher was ever practiced, since he was later crowned as king; i am just excluding this for lack of instantly evidence, and not with final determination.
... besides, this would be a bit outdated, when it comes to weaponry potentially used during thr Peninsular war.
By the way, and still wandering about the cypher swap on the blade/s, did you know that George in portuguese is Jorge ?
Obviously this means no more than that.
Fernando

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