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Old 8th July 2006, 10:34 PM   #6
not2sharp
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But,if they are all later to the sword,why did it not have any sign or stamp in the place of the engravings on the blade, and were its scabbard fittings original completely empty,with no decoration?
By the later half of the 19th century the sword makers knew that the military was no longer interested in their products. So they started marketing to the civilian market. This led to the production of a wide variety of society swords; which would have been used as part of the social/parade regalia, given away as trophies and awards, or presented to members of various services upon their separation. These were not military issue, they would have no unit or acceptance marks, and may not have even had a manufacturer's stamp. This was likely a privately purchased sword which somehow found its way to a bazar, and was decorated to spark tourist interest. I suspect the story they peddled with the sword would have been much better then the quality of decoration.

n2s
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