Quote Originally Posted by 48HofC View Post
Mine is a Seaforth Highlanders broadsword from the Boer war era and it is original with the red on the outside. Inside is off white/cream and the two are joined around the outside edge by a blue trim.
My observations of 18th c. originals (from books of museum or personal collection photos) shows more basket hilt swords without liners than with them. The liners which survive appear to be of leather with a red wool cover. Some liners only covered part of the basket's interior, while others covered the entire interior, the purpose of them being to provide additional protection to the user's hand from hostile blade or point strikes. Of course, it may be that some of these liners were later additions when swords were reconditioned for display (the same occurred with original browning or japanning metal finishes, that were later cleaned off in favor of a "bright" hilt). This was especially true in the Victorian era, since people of that time had a decided affinity to "improve" old things and practices. Many modern reproduction basket hilt swords carry on this practice.

Good books to look at for more information are

John Wallace, Scottish Swords and Dirks, Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1970
Cyril Mazansky, British Basket-Hilted Swords, Boydell Press & Royal Armouries, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2005.