[QUOTE=Doc Hudson]Balderdash!!

If you read my post, I was only bringing forth an aspect of this silly sword idea for discussion. If you note, I posed questions, not answers. I see no reason to call it "balderdash!!"

To comment on your point: my understanding of British Victorian and Edwardian culture, I find it difficult to believe that just any man could put a sword on and go prancing out to Balmoral Castle to visit the Queen. Certainly, anyone who donned a sword would have needed some sort of claim to nobility or a high office. The Victorians and Edwardians took class distinctions very seriously. It is not believable that swords were simply very large accouterments available, like cufflinks, for all to wear.

I would suggest that the more likely view is that the sword, by Victorian times, was part of certain army or state uniforms. A military officer might wear one with his brushes and a governor might wear one with his ostrich feather hat. I find the idea that, say, a Victorian banker (with or without noble ancestors) or the Governor of Hong Kong would wear a sword with his tuxedo to going see the latest G&S completely unbelievable.

"Restrictions"? We are talking about fashion and class appropriate apparel. These are things governed by law but by convention. From a conventions point of view, a Victorian who donned a sword with out noble pretensions or a high office would be seen as a, to use a modern term, a poser.

By the way, I'm writing from Canada, where Her Majesty has granted us freedoms similar to Americans but where we still, to some extent, pay attention to the charms of the old world.