My father was in WWII and brought back with him this sword with the name, Schmidt, hand engraved on it. I did some research on Ernst Schmidt but would like to get more information on how old the sword might be, are there others out there, the value, if any, and do I really have a piece of history in my possession? The photo file was too big to attach.

Thank you.

Wow! Notice that when you typed "Ernst Schmidt" this site automatically created a link to Nathan Robinson's feature article on Schmidt. Have you read that article? If your sword is truly by THAT Schmidt, then it's probably pretty rare and valuable, although not especially old--late 19th/early 20th c. Highly valued as a collectible.

Yes, I did read Nathan's featured article on this website and it was very interesting. I just need to find out if I should just throw this sword up in the attic or handle it with TLC?

Any other replies would be greatly appreciated:-)

Thank you.

Prudence

We'll need multiple detailed photos to help you. See our image attachment guide for help.

I've attached a photo of the sword, as well as a photo of a German Bayonet which my father took off a German prisioner during WWII.

Thank you.

---

 Attachment: 53.83 KB



 Attachment: 58.33 KB

Do you have any photos of the Schmidt marking?

Sorry, but with the photo, you can barley see the name on the sword -- you can just about make out the "d" -- I use a magnify glass to see the name and it's underlined -- it looks like a double line engrave. I also did my best handwriting what I can see.

---

 Attachment: 46.67 KB



 Attachment: 71.61 KB

In that case I would suggest that the name Schmidt is that of a previous owner rather than that of the maker. The maker's name would typically be stamped on the blade near the hilt (also called the ricasso). I suggest registering at OldSwords.com (it is free) and using the extensive database to narrow down your sword's ID. It is also German in origin, but I am not sure of the model. Good luck!

Jonathan

I would guess that it's a standard pattern Prussian sword of the late 19th or early 20th c., and not associated with the famous Herr Schmidt.

Compare to this Imperial German Artillery sword. The scabbard of yours suggests an earlier date(?) but this isn't my area of interest/knowledge. See more info here: http://www.johnnyg.westhost.com/swords-imp2.html

---

 Attachment: 95.13 KB

The shape of the hilt is similar to the british 1796 Light Cavalry sabre, which was adopted by Prussia during the late Napoleonic war as the "Blücher sabre"

While I'm no expert on 19th century german swords, your example could be a local later development; the artillery sword Sean linked to also has a 1796ish hilt. These later swords where often made in both parade and field varieties.

A couple of other good resources for these various Germanic swords

weitere Informationen: auf die Fotos klicken
Click the appropriate picture to follow a discussion
http://www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/gale...olizei.jpg

http://www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/gale...fen-2.html

That is a good profile card type index to narrow searches.

http://www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/galerie/index.html

How I came to that after a discussion of American Civil War swords is kind of a winding trail
http://zietenhusar.de/index.html

My German is better than my French but sites can be fed through a translator tool.

Much of the world used P guards and contoured grips for a couple of centuries and more. The first link of this post shows a similar sword with a leather scabbard. Somehow I think we will find it to be a civil/national police sword (no offense meant to Johnny) , as the field military swords all/most used metal scabbards.

The makers mark on the blade, as Jonathan mentioned and any markings on the spine of the blade will help any helping to better place it in time and space.

Cheers

GC

The Germania and even the Johnson pages are fun too.

http://www.germaniainternational.com/

http://www.johnsonreferencebooks.com/
http://www.johnsonreferencebooks.com/catalogue/weapons/

No guess on the bayonet

OMG! You have all been very helpful. I am going to start checking out all the links you have all forwarded and try and come up with some more answers about this sword! This is very exciting and I can't believe all the replies I have received.

Thank you very much again!

Prudence