Thank you so much gents!
One of the biggest problems I have had in acquiring one of these has been of course the legality issue. Naturally my quest has been to find a historic weapon for 'historic' study, but of course many laws have little reasonable meter in typical verbatim application, and characteristically are followed to the latter by plebian officials.
OK, that might have been a rant!
Keith, thank you for noting the blade. That was key in this! It is an early rapier blade rather than the trefoil type found in small swords mostly of the 18th century. While this is of course Victorian, it begs the question, how did the maker of this interesting example come to use such an early blade?
The 'anchor' symbol is of course among the variations used in Solingen in following the Spanish tradition using these, usually at the terminus of the fuller.
It seems there are certain variations of these devices by the numbers of arms and their varying widths as well as separations and other elements, but no particular study has been done as far as I know. It would be interesting to discover a comparison of this example on an intact rapier, but there is the dreaded 'needle in a haystack' axiom
It seems to me you once had a swordstick with Aiala blade?
This is a superb example, as the echelon of gentlemen carrying these sword sticks were typically trained and skilled in swordsmanship, and would have held such an esteemed blade in high honor and tradition.