Cutting Edges

[urbanspaceman]

Way back at the start of my introduction to arms and armour I came across a curious smallsword belonging to Mel, my friend and mentor. Initial reaction to this sword was that it was likely munitions grade, but was certainly unlike any hollowed blades I had seen at that point.

Mel had sent this picture because I had asked him about non-colichemarde blades that featured a rolled fuller. I was, even then, beginning to become curious about rolled fullers. That said, what was of further interest was the fact that the sword featured sharpened edges; a possibility due to the width and shape of the blade, which was, obviously, very different to a regular hollowed trefoil smallsword.
The iron hilt will have been gilded, or embellished in some way, as the pierced pommel and shell was indicative of a superior quality, but the style of blade was absolutely indicative of battle-field activity rather than purely civilian and/or ceremonial. 
I put all of this curiosity on the back-burner as it was not really necessary material for my research into the Shotley Bridge enterprise, but...
Since that time I have noted, on more than one occasion, similar style blades, and by then I had accepted that rolled fullers were a product of the Mohll machine, therefore these swords had come from Shotley Bridge.
Further consideration of a Northern fondness for weightier, sharpened smallsword blades brought me to the conclusion that they were almost certainly early output from the village to local officers, so I grabbed any images I came across; unfortunately, most were of mediocre quality. Nonetheless, so far I have found five of them, which is significant for a battlefield blade of limited production from the late 1600s. What can be seen is they all have better hilts than are found on munitions-grade swords: these were officer's personal purchases.
Trefoil blades, some with cutting edges and a bit more weight, made in Shotley Bridge. When all of this is added to my earlier considerations regarding those narrow broadsword blades it leads me to believe that this machine was first producing blades for local militia before sending smallswords to London which, originally, was not what they were there for.

[Oriental Armament Collection]

It's pretty.

[urbanspaceman]

I don't know how I overlooked this one:

[urbanspaceman]

I've been back to explore this sword some more, beginning with finding a better image.

Here's what I've found - and please correct me whenever necessary.
First, the hilt was from John Carman II (Holborn, London) in 1753.
The blade, however, is one of the early Shotley Bridge output i.e. 1688 onwards.
Considering how many of Washington's military ancestors were from the North East of England the blade has obviously been a family heirloom re-hilted as a presentation to GW on the occasion of his first commission.
It is telling that, from then on, when using a smallsword, he favoured colichemarde blades. For example, in 1767 his first colichemarde arrived, in parts, from London, and he gave his previous smallsword to Major George Lewis who was his sister's son and his aide-de-camp during the revolution.
ps
Notice the indication of frequent sharpening to remove nicks.

[urbanspaceman]

Following up further, here is the colichemarde he ordered from London.
The cutler was Matthew Feesey: the King's cutler. There was also a silversmith involved of course, but I found - then lost - his name. Any takers?

[Jim McDougall]

Keith, Matthew Feesey (1703-69) was cutler to the king working in Pall Mall (in London). On another colichemarde blade silver hilt with London hallmarks 1744-45, marketed by him, there are makers marks TB (= Thomas Bamford?)
ref noted Southwick (2001, p.106-107).

[urbanspaceman]

Hello Jim. What would we do without you ? ! Thank-you, I believe that was the name I lost.
On another note:
it looks to me like I have uncovered a previously unknown thread of Washington's history; who'd have believed it possible?
Everyone living in the North East of England is well aware of the connection with your first president due to his ancestral home here: https://fabulousnorth.com/washington-old-hall/
The earliest reference to the hall was in 973, when it stood as a wooden building; however, it was first built in stone in 1183. The president's lineage begins in 1292.
All that aside, we now have a direct link between Washington and Shotley Bridge, and it goes some way to possibly explaining his penchant for colichemardes.
My book just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
I'll send you a pdf. (15mb) which will allow you to input searches; a better option, as I have not compiled an index.
Thanks again.

[kronckew]

Washington had quite a collection of swords. He tended to wear a Colichimarde small sword, as fashionable, in paintings made of him.


However, being a veteran of many closely fought military actions, he carried a different, more practical hanger sword with a curved blade in real battles.

[urbanspaceman]

From what my cursory research tells me, Washington was recognised as having nine swords altogether. Apart from the two I have illustrated, I've seen another colichemarde with a cut-steel hilt, most probably from Matthew Boulton by the look of it. There were two cuttoes that I've found so far. A French epee (1767 style) and the fancy presentation broadsword.
I don't know what the others are- does anybody?

[Jim McDougall]

Think I found it,
From "The Swords of George Washington". Goldstein, Mowbray & Hendelson, 2016,p,52;
."..these pierced hilts were all the rage in the last half of the 1760s and the one destined for George Washington was made by a London small worker-possibly Appalone Rudkins and was struck with sterling hallmarks for the year 1767. "



It is noted that Pall Mall, where Feesey was located, was a posh retail district, where industrial activity such as blade making would not be acceptable.

p.10;
"..though smiths in the British Midlands could make respectable blades, the best ones came from Germany. And thats exactly what Washingtons new sword mounted-a beautiful high quality colichemarde blade from Solingen".

It seems that "...conservatively figured, at least nine of Washingtons swords and one blade were at Mt.Vernon at the outset of the 19th c. If we read the documents in a less rigid way there could have been as many as sixteen swords and one blade in Washingtons possession at the time of his passing".

In my earlier entry, the silver hilt worker TB from another Feesey sword (1744) is not what we were looking for.....but this AR on the 1767 sword most likely the one sought.

While this does not directly provide an answer to the colichemarde question, it does imply that the military favor for these type blades had a certain bearing on choices for swords being commissioned. At the time Washington was ordering a sword from London, the cutlers there were typically getting blades from Solingen. As noted, the British blade makers were well qualified to produce these blades, but Solingen had long standing arrangements with cutlers there in London, and in many cases as seen, the cutlers were 'for the King'. The political issues of the still raw Jacobite matters perhaps inclined adherence to the established Solingen makers over British. This finally reached the boiling point with the Gill perpetuation of British blades over German c.1790.

[urbanspaceman]

Appalone Rudkins is quite a name, I'm surprised I forgot it. Many thanks again Jim.
I also read the Mount Vernon declaration regarding the blades coming from Solingen and was convinced they simply accepted it, due to the preponderance of blades from there and the relatively low profile of Oley. Of course, Oley was a Solingen man, so the market would have been told it was made by a Solingen smith.
What cannot be ignored is the fact that colichemarde blades were machine rolled, and Shotley Bridge was the only place with that machine.
History is peppered with declarations about the Shotley Bridge enterprise existing to fashion hollow blades more efficiently using a secret machine.
There were two machines of course- one being simply (also much mentioned) small ultra-hard dry grinding wheels which Angerstein sketched for us during his visit to SB (in 1753). He also stated that Oley was concentrating on hollow blade smallswords and a lot of etching was being done in the village (by Wilsons).
The groove in colichemardes is way too accurate and uniform to be worthwhile fashioning by hand. I've looked at a lot of those blades, and also non colichemarde blades with that groove (such as my William Kinman) and it is quite obviously machine made.
As I've stated before, all hollow blade colichemardes are machine rolled, ergo all colichemardes are from SB.
No-one has been able to tell me when and where hollow bladed colichemardes originated, or explained why they appear to only be hilted in England. I am happy to hear any declarations of such. This is a completely new issue that no-one has - till now - explored; it should have been!

[Jim McDougall]

Keith this becomes more complex and intriguing as I work toward regaining traction in the research involved that you worked on over all these years.
It is interesting to see all these names associated with silver hilts in England, which are familiar to me through research I did years ago on silversmith Paul Storr.
I have a munitions grade briquet which has the distinct anomaly of being stamped with PS in cartouche on the brass hilt. This was a known touch mark of Paul Storr, a famed silversmith to the Royal Family. For many years many antique experts decried my theory that this could POSSIBLY be from him.
Then Bezdek came along, and he was listed as having been a sword maker!
Obviously, the suggestion would be silver hilts, but no such hilts are known attributed to him. It appears that he may have produced such a group of swords specifically for George III in the defense efforts in late 1790s, and copying the French briquet (there are NO known records of 'briquets' in British military swords.

The reason I bring up this anecdote is to illustrate the often convoluted records of these artisans, which ratherfalls hand in hand with the case of Shotley.

Remember, in the case of the blade trials perpetuated by Thomas Gill in the 1790s, where several makers entered examples to be tested. At that time there were basically only three British makers including Gill recorded....HOWEVER, there were examples submitted by OLEY !!!
This was bizarre, as Oley is NEVER included in references on British swords, and only noted with non specific mention in cases in some. Aylward (1945) is the only reference who delved into this esoterica.

It seems there are references to rolling machines, but I thought these were to rolling the stock for blades. The hollow grinding machines for grinding blade faces were it seems an innovation which superceded the fullering in stock removal of blades to both lighten and strengthen.

As you say, much more needs to be done to discover the origin of the hollow ground colichemarde blade.

I had never thought of hollow ground colichemarde blades only being mounted on English hilts, time to look deeply into Dean (1928) and some other sources,

[urbanspaceman]

Hi Jim. Paul Storr was apprenticed to Andrew Fogleberg, St Anne's Court. I am not certain that Fogleberg hilted swords but I came across him when looking for the maker of my latest smallsword - which turned out to be William Kinman; that's two I have by him, one of which is a colichemarde, both have grooves, even though one is not a colichemarde. I now have four such grooved (non colichemarde) smallswords.
The rolling machines you refer to Jim are from mid to late 1800s. Fritz Weyersberg bought a patent from an un-named Birmingham source for a 'blade roll forge', took it back to Solingen, before the merger with Kirschbaum, and is reputed to still be in operation at WKC today; although I asked Andre Wilms about it and he pleaded ignorance.
The Shotley Bridge machine was only ever described as being for the rapid production of hollow blades and had been since the 1630s. Remember, no-one ever got into Oley's forge, just Mohll's mill (Angerstein 1754) where the little grinding wheels were, so the second machine was never seen, but the product of its operation is quite obvious: grooves.