The brits set up an inspection team there and these blades were stamped with an S for Solingen as opposed to E for Enfield or B for Birmingham.
I suspect that if viewers were sent to Solingen to inspect swords for the Board of Ordnance they would be have been given a stamp that included a crown & inspectors identification number, as well as a location letter, which was standard practice. For example, when Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifles were contracted from M. Escoffier of St.Etienne in France, a team of three viewers with a supervisor were sent by the Ordnance department to view the rifles and they had stamps with Crown over F over 1, 2 or 3.
I don't know what an 'S' on its own on these swords represents, but it is not, I feel sure, the Ordnance's inspection stamp for Solingen.
|