A silver hilted small sword for comments.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Radboud

A. V. B. Norman dates the boatshell type of hilt to the 1720s and onwards. He referred to it as the Type 113 in his book, "The Rapier and Small-Sword 1460 - 1820"

Thank you so much for the note on this! Norman's book is fantastic, and I overlooked checking it.
The thing about sword forms, structure and features is that they of course materialized over time, and became notable as they became popularized and more familiar. It is always intriguing to know the 'ancestry' of such things, and Mr. Norman was a master at such investigation.