Posts: 1,973 Location: Nipmuc USA
Sat 03 Sep, 2011 8:57 am
Thanks Bryan for sharing more pictures of the foot sword and artillery example. The late WKC French 1822 type is an outstanding reminder how long the sword type was manufactured. I had seen a very late American dealer Horstmann marking an example of the late WKC cavalry swords. This was in the 1880s-1890s as well. While bpth the light 1860s cavalry sword and the later 1872s seem to have survived in more numbers, there was obviously a market for the bigger swords.
One bit of a puzzle for me this past season has been regarding a lot of Bavarian history and a few specific sword forms. What is generically labeled as 1837 Austrian, a subset of preference and decoration seems to have arisen. Too many Maximilian (as a name) at first had confounded a lot of research, mostly because I was/am so ignorant of the politics and lineage. What had prompted me was a particular sword that circulated for a time and then came home here. A rather plain sword in most regards, the langets perked up my curiosity.
Hmm and ho I wondered, as I had seen this somewhere before. Of other examples of these, I started findy first Ludwig of Bavaria being followed by Maximilian of Bavaria.
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Now, the story in my mind and searches, I find another Maximilian of the period, Prinz zu Wied. This fellow had followed some of Lewis&Clark's trails after first having spent time in South America. Too much to type as my own notes. A great start regarding his exploits can be found here.
http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/princemax.html
What had struck me as a bit unique about the following example I brought in was that the blade itself had been etched with the sunflower attributed to the Prinz zu Wied. Quite similar to the prairies Jerusalem Artichoke, the less meaty rooted sunflower has forever been named Helianthus maximilianii. Also etched on the blade is the crown and monogram for Maximilian of Bavaria, so we can place it in time and context to the above swords. Not to confuse things further, we can regard Mad Max and the short ruled Emperor of Mexico another time. ;) I have been getting pretty dizzy trying to learn more about politics and goings on in Europe during the 1848 to 1864 period.
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So, long inquiry short; I am wondering if these sunflower langets (one on the bay now) and more specifically this one decorated with the bloom itself might be proprietary traits of the Neuwied locality itself as opposed to being just affiliated with the Bavarian kings. One more possibly generic decoration is a cap atop pole which seems strange for a king's supporter. That might support more affiliation to Neuwied as a nod to the French Revolution and Neuwied during that. Other etchings of this one are more or less common to many. Drums, cannon, bugles, etc.
Most of these seem to follow in the general form of the 1837 infantry types but are we right to lump all of a single profile into categorizing them all as 1837 Austro-Hungarian? Thanks for reading and maybe the local reasoning for these langets might lead to more context. A tribute to the Prinz? Simply a nod to the history of Neuwied? Palace or court guards?
Cheers
GC
Some more months later now, this has been added to an ever growing pile of my own unsolved mysteries but as a postscript, I add one more link that is a book I need to read more of.. Most excellent exacting histories of the area with not just a few rather humorous anecdotes (find The Devil's House)
http://books.google.com/books?id=idcBAAAAYAAJ
The Rhine : history and legends of its castles, abbeys, monasteries, and towns / by W.O. von Horn (W. Oertel) ; English by Chris. Benson. (Wiesbaden : J. Niedner ; Philadelphia : Schäfer & Koradi, 1872)