Posts: 238 Location: Lyons, France
Fri 07 Jan, 2011 9:48 am
Pretty sure it's a cuirassier sword, because of the straight blade. See this one :
http://www.swordsales.eu/Waterloo-Captured-Fr...Sabre.html
Not the same model obviously but notice the similarity of the knuckle-bow. The Napoleonic-era cuirassier sword (as shown in this link) is obviously the most well-known, but cuirassiers were around in the French military until 1915 (!). So it's quite possibly a later model.
I don't find any cuirassier sword matching exactly your sword at the moment, Greg, but you should probably look in that direction.
Good luck,
Simon
PS - cuirassiers are heavy cavalry, armored with a cuirasse. In French their sword is more precisely called
latte. In French this word primarily refers to a long, narrow, straight piece of wood (akin to the English "lath" and probably of the same origin) used in carpentry (notably for making beds). This probably alludes to the long, straight blade of the sword, as opposed to other, curved cavalry blades.