Any idea who the blade maker is?
 

I was wondering if anybody had any ideas on the maker or origin of this blade? The writing looks like it may be Cryllic and the oval cartouche has an eagle (single head) with an orb and scepter. http://www.walton-antiques.com/swrdmrk2.jpg

The writing looks like it might be Hebrew to me, though i photo is not too clear. Any chance you can get closer? The first letter all the way on the right certainly looks like an aleph ("A") to me and the 4 six-pointed stars around the cartouche could imply some Hebrew origin.
Also a shot of the full blade would be helpful as well.

Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought of Hebrew - I'll see if I can find anything out along those lines. Yes, here is a closer photo: http://www.walton-antiques.com/swrdmark.jpg I will see about getting a photo of the entire blade. It is soft steel and has some pitting. Also, there looks to be a stamped mark near the guard, actually, half above it and half under it that I can't make out.

Nol it's probably not hebrew - the last one is N, not aleph.

I would try to look at the sword itself - that can be a better starting place than mostly gone signature.

I am fairly sure that the inscription is "Berlin"
and the eagle also looks Prussian.

I agree with Ariel, looks very much like a Prussian Eagle. Just compare it with this one on a coin dated 1758.

Ah, thank you, one and all, but especially ariel and rather! It isn't something that would fall under this classification of edged weapon, but rather 'militaria'. I had been think in terms of 'Caucasian' origin (I guess I need new glasses). It looks like the piece - or at least the blade - is a Prussian version of the 1796 British Infantry Sword (or something very similar) used for dueling. Ariel with the contribution of 'berlin' and rather with the views of the coin were the keys to my quandry about the origin. I thank you very much!