Used to be a sabre, i guess
 

The guard is obvious cut off. No marks on the blade.
Has anyone an idea what this used to be?

Hi Henk,

Could be a `facon caronero', a long knife carried by gauchos under the side of the saddle, from the pampas of Sth America.

These were made from swords, sometimes shortened, and the hand guard cut off so as not to interfere with riding.

Cheers
Chris

I don't think it's been modified much at all - just had the quillons removed. It looks like it would have been the brass-hilted cousin to the attached sword.

Alas, I don't know what this sword actually is. It looks like a hunting sword, but is very plain. Horn grip, 485g, 9mm thick at the hilt, 5mm thick mid-blade, 3mm thick at 5cm from the tip.

If your sword is much heavier than this, it might be a military pioneer/engineer/artillery sword.

This sword looks like a 18th or 19th century hunting dagger (German: Hirschfänger, or deer catcher). The longer hunting epee or hunting sword was used from the horseback, the hunting dagger was designed for foot hunters.
In this period they only had single shot black powder guns, so it was important to have a long edged weapon for emergency cases.
The other reason is that it was a sign for bravery for the nobility to hunt a deer or boar by edged weapons.

The crossguard has been simply broken or cut off as you said.


Roland

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your comments. Certainly useful. The copper hilt however gave me an indication of a military sword as Timo sugested.

A deer hunter with a copper hilt.

Deer hunters were also used by the military. But in that case the hilt must have a system to use it as a bayonet.