Looking further online I found the following information:
Apparently in late 18th century use of smallswords with skull and crossbones may have appeared in Scottish Rite Lodges and used in consistory degree , the final portion of the31st and 32nd degrees. It is suggested that these uses may have been worked in the French emigre lodges in New York or Charleston, but unclear on if these were only instances.
In "Swords of the Masonic Orders", John D. Hamilton, Man at Arms, May,June 1979, one of the skull and crossbone hilts as posted by David is shown, as a 'Consistory' sword of late 18th c.
While the term 'consistory' is usually used ecclesiastically in the Catholic Church, here it refers to the council in the completion of these degrees in Freemasonry.
Although it seems there were established as a form in the 18th century, these hilts were in use in latter 19th century in Ames Sword Co. catalogs.and still referring to 'consistory' association.
So while there seems to have been an established association of the skull and crossbones theme with these, it seems clear this example I have posted is as David suggests, a fabricated hilt certainly not homogenous with these sword components.
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