I really think you are onto something, Frank. Did you see the nominal roll in the last link I provided? It gives the known names of the men who served in this foreign unit, and gives their nationality. There is a relatively small pool of Finns, so the original owner's name may be amongst those listed.

Jonathan

ADDED:

Frank,
I have a few recommendations for further research:

www.victorianwars.com : A forum for discussion of all aspects of the Victorian military.

www.angloboerwar.com : A comprehensive site for researching this conflict.

www.boerwarregister.com : A site run by a professional researcher and resident of SA. There are fees, but from what I hear his service is well worth it!

Best of luck to you!

Jonathan

I suppose I'd need some rather expert advice to find out why the pommel on this one is a ball and not a crown? I don's suppose any of you know if this kind of thing is commonplace amongst other swords?

Finland got it's independency late in 1917 and first orders about army
swords, which had the lion on the hand guard, were issued in 18.4.1918 but
that model was never manufactured, not even a sample.

First drawing about the officer sword, that was also accepted and
manufactured, was made only in July 1919 by artist/lieutenant Akseli
Gallen-Kallela, very famous Finnish artist.

Swords were manufactured in Solingen, Germany, by at least 5 different
manufacturers. In bigger quantities only in 1924!

So...seems that riddle was not so simple at all! Boer War was over before
first Finnish officer sword was even made! In 1902 when 2nd Boer war ended
Finland was still tightly part of Imperial Russia and had not yet any hopes
or thoughts about independency!

Hi Chaps,

I have loaded more photos if anybody is interested:


http://picasaweb.google.com/fyford/20090910#

Cheers

Frank[/code]

Hi,
they says it's a private galery, I have no access :\

Think I missed the #, I corrected the link, see if it works now for you guys?

http://picasaweb.google.com/fyford/20090910#

Cheers

Frank

Hi,
it's ok for me now, thanks!
That's a very nice sword, it's incredible when you think it's been excavated :eek: Was it from an arid/desert area?

Hi Stephane,

yes it is indeed a very arid area that gets very little rain. The sword was found about 50cm deep. We are still non the wiser as to how on earth it happened to get there. I have been in contact with a museum in Finland who is trying to see if they can trace the number (119) to anything. Other than that I guess we will probably never know.......

Cheers

Frank