In regards to a handguard disqualifying it as a military weapon, I respectfully disagree. We have our famous American Civil War "D Guard Bowies," The L.F.&C & the ACCO 1917 Trench Knives, as well as a host of WW1 & WW2 Theater Made knives w/"D Guards, " not to mention Jason McCord's cut-down Cavalry sword that he often employed in the Western Frontier.
Paramilitary units often had non-standardized weapons such as this one; whether the application was practical or not was of secondary importance; just so long as they were scary.
Usually, with your typical souvenir pieces, you not only have a date and a name but a place, which this one doesn't, which tells me that this one wasn't generically made.
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