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Old 6th January 2021, 09:21 PM   #3
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ulfberth
The period is indeed between 1830 to 1850, but the origin is Belgian and probably made in Liege. It has all the features type, shape decoration as a typical Belgian officer mameluke sabre of that period.
kind regards
Ulfberth
Well observed and excellent suggestion. I knew this was not the British version of the 'mameluke' saber which became popular after the campaigns in Egypt (1798-1800). Both Great Britain and France became enamored of the sabers of the Mamluk forces in Egypt and adopted the Ottoman hilt design through the first quarter 19th c.
In 1831, the British officially adopted the hilt style for officers dress sabers, but it had been well in use already as well as in Europe.

This hilt does not have the rivets, decorated crossguard and langets, and the British sword does not have a chain guard which this one seems to have had.
The clipped point and deep curve is also inconsistent with the British and seems a lot like German blades using that feature mid 18th c. into 19th.
In Seifert "Schwert Degen Sabel" (1962), he refers to this type point as a 'pandour point' referring to the notorious Balkan forces in Austrian service for Maria Theresa and were widely imitated in European armies of early 19th c.
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