Personally I have always regarded a number of the interesting hilt design elements of British officers swords of these latter 18th century type, especially these raised openwork guards on the 'spadroon' type swords, to have possible Masonic associations. Naturally such a distinctly speculative idea cannot be proven at this point and even authors such as Brian Robson in discussions on similar topic have suggested that aesthetic effect is most likely the motivation (pers. comm.).
Other motifs in these guards seem to fall into that category with baroque or neoclassic design rather than simple geometric element such as this with distinct symbolic associations ( cf. example,Aylward, 1945, p.80, design by E. Tookey 1793).
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