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Originally Posted by Richard G
Jim,
I agree, I think many would describe this as an "unusual" English hilt.
The blade is a little more problematic. On an English sword of this era (even with a German blade) I think it would have been more usual for the forte to have been reserved for the makers or retailers name or trademark, and "Pro Patria" etc. to be on the middle of the blade. Also I struggle to make any sense of "E B E E N S G R I B".
This blade almost looks as if made for wholesale with an etched Turks head etc. and the forte left deliberately blank to be available for inscription by the buyer.
I don't think it is a fake, or anything like that, but it does have these anomalies.
Regards
Richard
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Absolutely Richard! and I agree that a Solingen blade made for the English market would be probably left open at the forte as you suggest. There do not seem to be specific guidelines for these practices however, and actually the Solingen makers catered with certain degrees of unique styling and features for various markets. The popularity of the fashionable hussars of East Europe during the latter 18th century is well established, and much of the decorative motif of the blades of thier swords were much admired by fashion conscious officers.
As noted, this exact image of the 'Turk' head is seen in the book on French blades, and the 'Transylvanian' style motto may suggest the blade was likely Solingen produced for Continental use, and may have gotten to England through any number of ways. Naturally it is virtually impossible to determine exactly which situation or circumstance might account for this.
These kind of situations are even more complex with officers in colonial regions who have paired native hilts with regulation blades, or vice versa such as in India, Arabia and North Africa. Basically, blade and hilt are quite separate entities, and it is always a challenge to try to classify these kinds of hybrids. I had a sabre with one of these strangely lettered, basically it seems indecipherable, inscriptions, actually almost identical to the Transylvanian inscriptions I noted. It was identified as a Hungarian sabre 18th century with Ottoman style hilt. It turned out to be Arab, probably Bedouin, and probably mounted 19th century. When I asked about what the words, which seemed Hungarian, meant, I was told bluntly, nothing, it cannot be translated.
I think its a very nice sword, and the 'anomaly' of it is what gives it its compelling charm, and the absolute wonder of these weapons is often the mysteries they hold
