Query on maker's mark

Billman · 27th March 2014, 07:26 PM

You can see the whole tool at http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/17380 - the brass lion handle (the complete lion, on its haunches, in the top - horizontal- image) is the one on the cochoir. If it is Dutch in origin, that would make the story even more complicated. I have never seen one of these tools from Holland, but people moved freely through northern France, Alsace, Germany, Belgium and Holland, especially when fleeing from religous persecution...

The swordsmiths of the Klingenthal Manufacture were recruited (poached??) from Solingen in Germany, so there is a good chance that smiths previously crossed borders (the people living in border regions were, and still are, usually bilingual, and often feel they do not belong to either country, but to the region)...

It is possible that the maker bought in a handle, or converted one from a Dutch sword, for this piece - normally cochoirs have a wooden handle, often with two ferrules... (see below)

Can you please post an image(s) of contemporay Dutch lion handles of a similar form???

P.S. I know very little of arms and weapons, I specialise in edged tools, so any help from the experts in this field/on this forum will be greatly appreciated.

27th March 2014, 07:26 PM	#6
Billman Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 129	You can see the whole tool at http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/17380 - the brass lion handle (the complete lion, on its haunches, in the top - horizontal- image) is the one on the cochoir. If it is Dutch in origin, that would make the story even more complicated. I have never seen one of these tools from Holland, but people moved freely through northern France, Alsace, Germany, Belgium and Holland, especially when fleeing from religous persecution... The swordsmiths of the Klingenthal Manufacture were recruited (poached??) from Solingen in Germany, so there is a good chance that smiths previously crossed borders (the people living in border regions were, and still are, usually bilingual, and often feel they do not belong to either country, but to the region)... It is possible that the maker bought in a handle, or converted one from a Dutch sword, for this piece - normally cochoirs have a wooden handle, often with two ferrules... (see below) Can you please post an image(s) of contemporay Dutch lion handles of a similar form??? P.S. I know very little of arms and weapons, I specialise in edged tools, so any help from the experts in this field/on this forum will be greatly appreciated. Attached Images Last edited by Billman; 27th March 2014 at 09:25 PM.