You are a lucky man! I love your ax. I, unfortunately, only have one true boarding ax in my collection and have been wanting one of these French types. Forgot to mention that the eye on yours is squared, another popularity with the French patterns.
Thank you, Kronckew, for posting the pics. I'm not so savvy when it comes to such things-
. Yes, I did notice that the one I mentioned was British, but of the French pattern. Forgot to mention that and hope it didn't cause any confusion. It is interesting that the boarding axe, serving as both a weapon and tool, became the standard fire ax as we know it. It goes back to the fact that on the crowded decks of ships, almost anything could become a weapon in a hand-to-hand melee (whaling blubber knives, belaying pins, axes, rope and tackle, rumlets, grappling hooks, etc, etc). The trick is deciding when is an ax a weapon and when is it just a fire suppressant?