[Chris Pearson]

[Looking at aquiring this sword/sabre but cant seem to ID it. There are no visible markings. Ant ideas[/img]

[Glen A Cleeton]

Welcome aboard

Although some details of dimensions would be helpful, my thoughts for is that of west Europe continental infantry swords of a generally French style around the Napoleonic era. It would likely get lumped into a genre of "grenadier sword" but I would see it as a more ambiguous infantry sword or naval cutlass.

Where did the sword surface? Do you have any information as to how many have owned the sword (ie; did the sword come from a dealer or auction with a story).

My thoughts are a German made blade and maybe Dutch or Dane use but I am a bit out of my depth without looking in some regularly visited forum and sites. I would recommend both, as English language boards
http://www.swordforum.com/forums/forumdisplay...word-Forum
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=12

Cheers
GC

[Hadrian Coffin]

I may be mistaken.. but that scabbard, and those fullers, and the way they terminate.. and the shoddy brass work on the guard. To me it looks like a theatre prop, or perhaps something of Middle Eastern/Asian manufacture for the tourist market.

It certainly doesn’t look like an authentic 19th century military sword.

Best,
Hadrian

[Glen A Cleeton]

The blade has been shortened, as evident at its point. I think the casting is better than a lot of the reproductions. I'd love to see more pictures, and at a good size.

Let me see if some of my thoughts will attach, or if I'll need to resize.

http://www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/topic.php?id=903

From Gilkerson's Boarder's Away



I could find examples in Neumann's Swords and Blades of the American Revolution but I'm being lazy here. I have some earlier shell guard with branches dove head sabres already in files.

Exact matches of what I see here? No. Trends, yes.
This might open as a pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9AOFMA8y3ODNURhVV9Yc1h0b0U/view?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9AOFMA8y3ODRnI2cURHVDNMRFE/view?


Let me know if they open ok, Sharing my drive used to be easy.

The wood of the grip doers look very clean under the chip but that doesn't mean much. Scabbards get replaced and remade, I wouldn't necessarily judge the blade and hilt as contemporary to the original marriages.

Something to do, I guess. As the poster is thinking about a purchase, I would say just say no.

Cheers
GC

[Ian Hutchison]

I've seen a very similar sword years ago. Maybe even the same type. It was, iirc, some kind of mid-19th century German or Austrian pioneer saber. This does bear a close resemblance to an Austrian grenadier's saber though.

[Glen A Cleeton]

Late night browsing a dealer

https://www.faganarms.com/collections/swords/products/french-grenadier-s-sword-2

Kinda what I was getting at.

Cheers
GC

[Chris Goerner]

American horseman's sabers of the Revolutionary War period commonly had the same style of blade with 3 narrow fullers starting well down the blade (6" or more from the hilt). And given that the fullers appear to run through the end of the tip (which also appears to be reground based on the shape) I would put my money on this being a cut down saber blade. I think that could also explain why the quality of the scabbard appears to be of the home made variety -- it may not have been the one originally issued with the blade. Neumann suggests the American horseman saber blades were imported from France with hilts added in the colonies.

The hilt on the other hand looks similar to 19th century French cutlasses I have seen. i would not at all be surprised if this is an older blade that was re-hilted.

[Dan D'Silva]

Wild guess: The hilt and blade are antiques that some amateur bought for cheap because they were damaged, put together, then made the scabbard. This could possibly have been fairly recent.

[Nathan Robinson]

Isn't the scabbard cut down, too? That doesn't look like a scabbard throat but rather a secondary suspension ring.

[Hadrian Coffin]

I am not adverse to saying that some of the components may come from 19th century swords Many were usedre-used in the manufacture of theatre props/tourist pieces..

But certainly this sword is NOT an original (as in wholly complete and in original form).

As to purchasing, this sword is worth less than £30. There is no actual value. So I would heartily advise against.

Best,
Hadrian

[Ryan McLaurin]

My first thought was it's an older champagne saber, or was a sword cut down for that purpose. However, that's just speculation on my part.