Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

kronckew · 6th August 2020, 06:54 PM

Italian sabres of late 19c with bowl guards like that would have an indent for the thumb along the spine.

Austrian ones had 2 parallel narrow cut-outs in the front of the bowl guard possibly for a sword knot.

Your scabbard with the two fixed rings is quite British & late 19c, the grip leather/wire looks like a replacement.

Possible private purchase? Issue swords usually if not always has a slot in the guard near the pommel for a sword knot*. The tassled cord looped it the scabbard ring looks like a drapery tie-back & not military. The scabbard also looks like it was re-issued to a different regiment after the original had had them replaced with newer models. (it also appears to be missing the short slotted head screw that secures the scabbard throat, you may want to replace that.)

*- Oddly, naval sword specs did NOT ever call for a sword knot slot on naval enlisted cutlass patterns, only officers and warrants rated a sword knot. However, they - the cutlasses - were obtained thru the army ordinance department, all army officers, and they had a inflexible rule that all swords HAD to have a slot for a sword knot, so the navy got them in spite of their objections. Logistics were a bit convoluted back then and were distinctly "We've done it this way for 300 years, and we'll keep doing it that way for the next 300".

6th August 2020, 06:54 PM	#3
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,150	Italian sabres of late 19c with bowl guards like that would have an indent for the thumb along the spine. Austrian ones had 2 parallel narrow cut-outs in the front of the bowl guard possibly for a sword knot. Your scabbard with the two fixed rings is quite British & late 19c, the grip leather/wire looks like a replacement. Possible private purchase? Issue swords usually if not always has a slot in the guard near the pommel for a sword knot. The tassled cord looped it the scabbard ring looks like a drapery tie-back & not military. The scabbard also looks like it was re-issued to a different regiment after the original had had them replaced with newer models. (it also appears to be missing the short slotted head screw that secures the scabbard throat, you may want to replace that.) - Oddly, naval sword specs did NOT ever call for a sword knot slot on naval enlisted cutlass patterns, only officers and warrants rated a sword knot. However, they - the cutlasses - were obtained thru the army ordinance department, all army officers, and they had a inflexible rule that all swords HAD to have a slot for a sword knot, so the navy got them in spite of their objections. Logistics were a bit convoluted back then and were distinctly "We've done it this way for 300 years, and we'll keep doing it that way for the next 300". Last edited by kronckew; 6th August 2020 at 07:12 PM.