This Cuttoe Seems A Little Fishy To Me
 

Currently inbound to me. I should be saving for that one last acquisition but it never seems to last the year. This short little guy should still be a keeper. The blade is only 15"/39.37 cm long. A whopping 22"/55.88 cm overall in length. I can't be sure if it is horn but seems to be. The fish guard and locket drew me in. I won't know how stable the scabbard is until I have it in hand. The blade appears to have been vigorously cleaned, what I refer to as scraped but not so the fittings. That puts me in a quandary as to whether to just go with my soft brushes, or go ahead and wipe it with cleaner/polish and then let it mellow.

I'm figuring late mid 18th century, based on the style and blade but the guard has me kind of perplexed, the hook that set my bid. ;)

Thoughts? I bring this to the most serial serious here. Forgive me for the puns.

Cheers
GC

I think you caught a nice fish:D
I would say that it was made in the late 18th or early 19th century. The condition is not so bad, often the scabbards are missing.

Regards
Robin

I agree. Nothing fishy to me (except the motif :D).

A very nice hanger of the period. I like the 'ring' guard found on some of these, a throwback to earlier forms. Here's a brass hanger of mine with the same type of extended ring guard. Note also the 'nautical' theme on mine, like your 'fish'!

Thanks guys. I am still waiting for its arrival.

I still can't place it to its time and origin. There is not much to the etch that I can see. The nautical theme is apparent but I am still stumped.

Cheers
GC

Such small hunting sabers, in German called Jagdplaute, are relatively common in Germany. So I would guess that your piece is German, too. Often they have a bird on the guard, a fish is far more rare.
The attached picture shows some similar pieces, dated to the mid 18th century. It is from this side:

http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.1457.html

So maybe I was wrong at first and your piece is a half century older than I thought.

Regards
Robin

Thanks!