[Richard Chapman]

In looking at French swords, I came across a notation that I didn't understand. Various designs have names like "An XII" or "An IV". At first glance I thought there might be some numbering system like Oakeshott numbers for medieval designs or Peterson numbers used by some American collectors. No -- these are dates in the French Revolutionary Calendar, used from 1792 to 1805 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolutionary_Calendar). In addition to learning what the sword pattern names meant, I also learned the etymology of "18th Brumaire", "Germinal" and "Lobster Thermidor". Fascinating. So, my question: in addition to these numbering schemes, what other numbering schemes are used by sword collectors?

Yours,
Richard

[Craig Johnson]

Hello Richard

Well there can be a lot. In the period you mention you are getting into the military pattern ordered sword. While you see this earlier in the unit style sword. In this period you have large government orders of a standardized pattern. This may well be the numbers you are encountering.

The thing with typologies is that often each study has a tendency to create its own. The result being a potpourri to choose from. This also gives rise to the encompassing studies where they try to incorporate all the existing studies into a larger structure. Fun right. Keeps the professors busy anyway.

I will try to knock together a quick list and post it when I can.

Best
Craig