[Cathey]

Hi Guys

I originally posted this sword on the Ethnographic Weapons page of Vikingsword Forum, as the previous owner had it marked down as a Turkish Generals Sword. Thanks to assistance from this posting we have now settled on the sword being western European with pseudo ottoman script.

Now that I have had more time to review this sword I can also provide a better description:
Western European Officer’ Mameluke. Hilt has an all in one brass backstrap and Pistol shaped pommel (without the usual hole in the pommel). Brass Ferrule with corded central decoration. Brass cross guard with Chain Guard. Grip decoratively carved bone. Curved single edged flat blade with shallow (9 ½” 24 cm) clip back point. Blade has a small decorative panel on each side containing pseudo ottoman script. Plain steel scabbard with two throat screws and two steel bands with hangers.

The swords dimensions are:
Overall Length: In Scabbard 35 ¼” 89.6 cm, sword only 34 1/8” 86.7 cm
Blade length: 28 ¼” 71.8 cm
Blade widest point: 1 ¼” 3.2 cm
Hilt widest point: 5 ¾” 14.5 cm
Inside grip length: 4” 10.1 cm

I am still trying to identify whether the sword is Hungarian, French or English. I have been unable to find another example with this unusual style pf Pistol pommel/grip. On a previous post I did find a reference stating that “After the French expedition in Egypt, Western Europeans (mainly French & British) started to produce the "sabres a l'orientale", just copies of Islamic / Ottoman kilij with pistol grip. But the marks and decorations on the blades were purely Europeans”. Which certainly would seem to fit with this sword.

Cheers Cathey and Rex