[Jim McDougall]

This is the Hounslow cutlass I have, and the running wolf, while in latten, as is Keiths, as often seen in some Solingen blades, its configuration seems contrary to those of Solingen.It also stands alone, without date, numbers etc.

In " Arms and Armor in Tudor & Stuart London", M. Holmes, 1957, p.30, "...as has been said, Hounslow swords are generally single edged cavalry weapons for cut and thrust work, or curved cutlasses for use at sea. The backs of these latter are often serrated'
* a footnote from another reference from 1686 has mention of sawing with a backsword by a shipmaster, indicating these were still in use by this date. This example is likely of the late 1630s in line with the number of other examples aligned with this.

On p.33, it is noted, "...a cutlass with a serrated back dated 1634 marked with the fox, a symbol occasionally found on Hounslow work".

It has often been suggested that the German makers of Hounslow and later Shotley took to using the running wolf in a sense to spite their former allegiance to the Solingen guilds. I think that is on the contrary, and that the convention of the wolf image remained a talismanic imbuement from the earlier days of the famed 'Passau wolf' where such markings were indeed intended in this manner, and were deemed among other amuletic devices known as 'Passau art'. This was of course picked up by Solingen where in addition to the image suggested quality in addition to its more occult placement prior in Passau.

This practice was surely adopted later elsewhere, such as Shotley Bridge where it is believed the wolf became a bushy tail fox, which carried into later Birmingham manufacture with Samuel Harvey well into the 18th c.