George Thurkle's mark on a sword hilt?

[Dmitry]

Hello,
This sword dates from ca.1798-1810 by it's features. The bottom of the hilt is marked GT, so is the scabbard shoe. There are no other marks.
I was contemplating this being the mark of George Thurkle, a London cutler, who inherited the business of his much more famous and prolific brother Francis Thurkle, who supplied officers of HM armed forces from ca.1791-1801, whence he died. He is unique among the British maker's of that time because he marked all his brass and non-silver metal items with his maker's mark FT. This makes dating his swords much easier.
After he died, the shop on Great New St, Shoe Lane either went to his brother by will, or he purchased it, and stayed there for a year, after which he moved to 15 New St Sq. ca.1804, stayed there till 1806, when the business became known as Thurkle & Skynner.
Where I have seen many Francis Thurkle FT- marked sword and dirk hilts, I have yet to see a George Thurkle one. Of course I may be wrong in my guessing and this is not George Thurkle's mark..
Thanks for your expertise!

I am not sure whether the hilt is silver or a silver-like alloy.

[buckler]

Grim wade, page 74, gives details of two Goldsmiths Hall registered marks of George Thurkle
Illustrated No 911 as small worker entered 19 March 1800 which has slightly canter corners
and another (unillustrated ) "with square corners 10 October 1821"
I would guess this may either, but would tend to the 1821 version.
The dent at the top of the Mark should be ignored , it's probably a punching or finishing defect.
Most swords had the fittings fully marked by the London Assay Office if silver or gold so I would imagine the absence of assay marks indicate that the fittings are not sterling silver.

Several buckle makers of the 1780 -1815 period were known to use their registered silver mark punches on alloy buckles, so I see no reason to believe sword fitting makers did not do the same on their fittings
Certainly I think it quite possible this is George Thurkle's mark

[Dmitry]

Thanks, buckler!
Does the mark in Grimwade resemble the mark shown? I'm not a silver collector per se, I doubt that our provincial library will have many books on the English silver marks. but I'll give it a shot. Would it be improper to ask for a photo of the mark in Grimwade? Thank you very much again.
You would imagine that other London and Birmingham craftsmen who had registered silver marks punched them on their non-silver sword fittings, but Francis Thurkle was the only one. He punched his brass sword hilts, shoulder belt plates, probably gorgets as well.

[buckler]

Grimwade's imagines are taken from an old wet type photocopy of an impression of a punch press directly onto a ledger page. The page is old, the reproduction very small. Consequently anything very straightforward in design is very much like many others. One cannot be certain in this, and many other cases. All I can say is that I would not preclude it from being Thurkle's and on a balance of probability it is very likely.
I do not think buying or borrowing a copy of Grimwade will help I'm afraid

I assume that you have a copy of Leslie Southwick London Silver Hilted Swords ?
Which does not help either but has excellent biographies of the Thurkle dynasty ,