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Originally Posted by urbanspaceman
Has anyone ever explained how a mark of quality bestowed by an Archduke in 1349 to a Passau guild ended up more commonly representing Solingen who were both competition and also on the opposite side of the country. It seems to me that the Shotley Bridge story has nearly as much historical beginnings in Germany as it does in England.
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Apropos of the above, I came across this in one of the SB books:
The earliest swordmaking centres of Europe were at Milan,
Brescia, Toledo, Strasburg, Passau and Solingen. The distribution point
was Cologne. The merchants congregated there to take their percentage
and send the blades on in chests or bundles to be furbished in other
towns and countries. If these 'Cologne' swords (as they were called), bore the mark
of the 'Flying Fox' which guaranteed Solingen make, they were enhanced
in value. The mark was not associated with any particular bladesmith
(who always inscribed his own mark on the blade or tang- which is
hidden in the hilt), but was granted to the Armourer's Guild at Passau
by Archduke Albert in 1349 and was subsequently stamped on all
Solingen blades as a mark of excellence. In those days the marking
and stamping on the blades was witnessed in the market place.
It would seem that the blades would already bear the Passau Wolf and the public stamping of bladesmith identity was done in public. Even so, if you are buying a chest of blades (how many blades in a chest?) you would be waiting around some time while each one was stamped.