Yay! Do I get to wear a big, feathered hat, like Barbossa?!
Thank you gents for all of the important comments you made. It's what makes collecting so addictive to me: the history behind the piece. I remember in a previous thread where we had shown a direct correlation with these arming swords used by officers (and bilbo cavalry types by soldiers) on both the Spanish and Portuguese treasure fleets. I wanted a definitive naval connection and we were able to pin it down for sure!
Jim, I do know that the firm of Schimmelbusch and Joest came to Central and South America around 1810's and had researched them (they were the swordsmiths that had made that old lion-hilt Spanish broadsword ca. 1800 I used to own). They were active in the Spanish colonies, but were also well known for their other contracts, including the m1811 Prussian cavalry swords as well as Austrian broadsword/cavalry types of the period. It remains unclear to me, though, if they were the makers or just the merchants of such. Kind of like the Birmingham gun 'makers', who were actually just peddlers but went so far as to mark the weapons as their own!