WOW! Mark...….beautifully said, and THATS exactly what I'm talking about regarding the inherent value of most all arms comprising actual period components and trade blades etc. As a historian, as opposed to a 'collector' I look for the entire history and disposition of a weapon rather than its condition and integrity as homogenous or otherwise purely one thing or another.
The influences brought into many arms, mostly in hilts and decoration, often reflects distinct and important factors pertinent to the time the weapon was assembled and hilts fashioned.
You mention the influence of the Egyptian campaigns on British swords, and I had one of the British M1803 infantry officers lionhead sabres of the post campaign period. These had a lionhead with flowing mane and the four slot hilt of earlier British swords prior to and during the Revolutionary War.
The example I had was in every aspect the same lionhead, however......the mane was entirely in the fashion of the famed sphinx. There were other swords which carried other themes from Egypt and these campaigns.
The lionhead sword pictured in the earlier post I remember very well was yours, and a prime example of what I am saying.
It is Mexican and if I recall had the famed 'Spanish motto' on this triple fullered blade. Kirschbaum & Schimmelbusch were of course a Solingen firm working under this heading in the latter 18th century as you note.
The sword is hilted with a curious stylized lionhead of British form which reflects the seemed amalgamation of doghead as well as lionhead in character but cast in whole with representation of a mane drawn rather than in relief.
I am inclined to recall this sword as likely a Mexican officers sword from the 'Revoltionary' period (c.1820) with an earlier imported blade from Solingen. The theme of the hilt reflects the Spanish interests in the American Revolution, and possibly this style 'lionhead' may reflect that.
Each weapon has a story, and in these kinds of examples, the dynamics reach often fascinating dimension. This is something you have always known as seen in the items you have collected and shared here over many years.
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