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Old 7th November 2019, 05:28 PM   #21
Jim McDougall
Arms Historian
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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The Gladius type character of numbers of these swords which turned up in cast brass hilts gave way to these zoomorphic pommel types as well as the famed 'briquet' used by artillery rank and file throughout European armies.
These were around from about 1790s well into the 19th c. and are among the most common other ranks swords known as they were used by so many armies and produced in hundreds of thousands.

I have a bizarre Mexican 'hybrid' which has a three bar cavalry guard, mounted on a cast briquet hilt with a cut down Spanish dragoon blade. This reflects the kinds of innovation, recycling and ersatz fabrication of swords which existed in the Spanish colonial frontiers.

With Mexican army regiments, it is not hard to imagine crudely applied markings applied by unskilled (typically) men charged with accounting for weaponry among often amalgamated forces on campaign.

Returning to the influences of these cast brass 'neoclassic' style sword hilts, the French weapons, in particular the 'gladius' type, also influenced the American military. In 1833, the Ames Sword Co. introduced the artillery sword fashioned exactly after the French model (in upper rt corner of the page attached in previous post) for their own artillery.
These prevailed into the Civil War where, though never really used combatively, the numbers of these were remarkable.

A number of years ago, an amateur archaeologist in New York regions dug up one of these, and declared he had found proof of ancient Romans in America!! as the 'gladius' character was so distinct. It was of course a Civil War relic of US troops stationed in those areas.
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