Brass hilt briquet type hanger....British cutlass?

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Capn!! I hoped you'd enter this foray into the mystery of this anomaly. As you agree this curious old 'briquet' might well have to do with this period of pre-Napoleonic times in England, which seem never to have been well documented.
When the early writers on British swords such as Ffoulkes had little clue on these, which later were carried forth in Wilkinson writings (and again by Claude Blair) claiming they were British 'foot artillery hangers......these became the classification Gospel for collectors, at least in degree.

Actually these were never a highly collectible item, and most that were ever seen were of course French, which were well known (hence the colloquial term briquet). It was noted later in an article that no British example of 'briquet' was ever known that had substantiating markings identifying it as such, had ever been seen.

It was that several examples had been seen in the Tower dated 1830 which gave the impression these had been British.

However, as I had explained in that previous thread (thank you for the link!) the cartouche on this example with the distinctive cartouche with initials PS is compelling. It does NOT coincide with any type of marking used in weapons of other countries, including France.

It does however correspond to the early hallmark stamp of Paul Storr from c. 1792+. While this type stamp of course was used only by artisans using precious metals, it is known that in cases some did place stamps with initials regardless of metal used.
In these 'times of concern' where there was a notable civilian movement of ersatz defensive measures, it is noted in one reference that workers and artisans in many trades joined in to produce needed supplies and even weaponry.
It seems quite possible that Paul Storr, already working with other artisans closely aligned with the Royal House, might 'do his part' by creating a number of these hangers for 'the cause' and proudly place his well earned mark as testament to that.

The paucity of examples of these munitions grade weapons is directly related to their commonality overall, and that they were 'in bulk' excellent source for much needed brass metal, and were likely scrapped in huge volume.

A rather grim note on the post war use of the materials and other was recently found when I was researching the battlefields of Waterloo and other actions associated. It is well known that huge numbers of casualties were buried in huge mass graves there, however recent excavations revealed there are virtually no remains to be found archaeologically (save several noted graves of several individuals).
The horrifying fact seems to have been that these huge caches of remains were dug up to be put to use, with bone ground into fertilizer which became in scale a commodity much in the way Egyptian mummies were unceremoniously used.

While most weaponry found on these fields was of course taken as surplus, many more common items became of course smelting fodder, which would include of course these kinds of solid brass hilt swords.

With regard to the anchor stamp, in review of the previous thread on this topic, it seems that was a known Swedish mark used generally and not specific to naval items.