HI,
there was a development in Holland of a very interesting type of cross hilts in the middle of the 17thC the so called "leeuwengevesten"or lionhilt.
on those Hilts the Lion takes most of the space of the hilt.
such a hilt can be seen on the town guard of Hoorn painting of Jan Albertsz. Rotius made in 1655.
In the same time Golden Lion hilts were given to fleet owners for their duties by the VOC of Amsterdam. unfortunately we only know them now from paintings and no existing sample is known.
later the German sculper Goottfried Leygebe made also a lionhilt however the development on Holland was before his work.
now the sword of mark is a wooden? carving probably Dutch and made in one of its colonies or on the way to one of them.
the original of this wooden hilt, where a lion is attacked by four dogs is the same as on the painting of Rotius, in casted silver is laying in the tower of London.IX-849.
Mark, your sword is an interesting piece of Dutch history, I would love to have one like this.
best regards from Holland