Smallsword Hilt
Hilt Maker Matthew Boulton British
Hilt Maker Josiah Wedgwood British
This hilt combines two of the most popular elements of English jewelry during the last quarter of the eighteenth century: highly polished cut-steel beads and blue-and-white cameos of Wedgwood jasperware. The industrialist Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) of Birmingham, who specialized in cut-steel articles, is known to have collaborated with Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795) in combining jasperware cameos and steel settings to make buttons, watch fobs, and chatelaines. It is likely that this hilt originated in Boulton's factory.
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