No further photos? The mystery goes unsolved...
No further photos? The mystery goes unsolved...
Wow Wizardman your eyes must be better than mine or I'll just put it down to my 10 year old 13inch laptop screen. I've seen blades and pommels marked N but I've not noticed one on the cross guard like that. To me having an ownership mark that small and out of the way defeats the point. Even zoomed in I still can't make out the bend test. I'm not spending anymore time on this one until the OP puts up some decent photos of the blade stamps.
Hi Everyone.
My apologies for not replying sooner and thank you to everyone who has looked and commented. The stamping are present (i.e. bend test mark) but appear to be lightly done in places and difficult to photograph, however, they can be seen using a loup/magnifier which I appreciate is not much use here but I will try to get some better photos of the markings, again apologies for the delay in replying.
Hello All
Photos as requested which I hope are clearer. The bend test mark is below and to the left of the Enfield inspection mark, it is hard to make out in the photo (sorry, best I can do) but under magnification although lightly stamped it is there.
The width of the quillon at its widest is 21mm.
Hi Wizardman.
Very interesting and to be honest this is the first time I have noticed this mark. I gave this area a careful clean with some wax polish and the mark does indeed resemble a letter N but it is not a stamping and is a surface scratch which under the right light looks to be an N, there are however other surface marks radiating out from it and taken as a whole I don't think it is significant.
In my opinion this is an original hooked P1907, made by Enfield, with faint markings.
Thanks Largerlout for the extra pictures. I'm not an expert and I'm certainly not telling you to offload it as a fake but there are still too many red flags for me to confidently have it in my collection. I have four hooked quillons and they are all made in enfield December 1910 - two months after this one. Thats if Kilian is right with the EFD stamp on the front (which I can't be sure of) but should be right with the enfield inspector marks on the rear of the blade. All of mine have the same characteristics which differ to yours.
The finishing of the blueing on the blade on yours finishes at a 90 degree angle. Mine all finish at a 45 degree up towards the blade spine. Why are the kings crown, makers mark and bend test so faint? This doesn't make it bad just probably reworked. If it was reworked it had to be before October 1913 otherwise the quillon should have been removed and where are the rework date stamps on the rear?
Why is the year (10) stamp so prominent and crisp in comparison to the month (8) and model (1907) stamps. It also looks like there is a potential remnant of a 1 stamp under the 10 stamp. The 10 stamp looks not aligned with the other stamps and even the 1 and 0 aren't aligned to each other. The top of the 1 of the 10 stamp also does not match the 1 of the 1907 stamp and dips more like a 7.
The final thing for me is the point and body of the quillon. Mine all have a contoured body where as yours is more flat and mine all have more rounded points where as yours is more pointed.
I've added some pictures of one of my examples with the differences highlighted.
Thanks Killian
Either way it will probably stay in my collection, appreciate your input.
Hi Alex
Thanks for the detailed reply and taking the trouble to post your photos. Having taken a look at the areas you highlighted and closer examination of my example I am inclined to accept that it is probably not genuine, I think all the points you raised are valid and if I am honest I probably had my doubts anyway, this was a bought at auction buy and only goes to prove that there is no substitute for having the item in hand to examine. Thanks again for your time and comments.
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