saber engraving

wolviex · 1st April 2005, 08:12 AM

What a nice sabre!!! Very Polish but Russian

. The handle looks like of Russian sabre model 1809. Following Czerwinski and Dudek book about sabres used by Polish soldiers, handles like this were made for and by Polish officers from ca. 1815 to 1830, often without fabric marks. Sometimes, of course fabric Russian sabres were in use also.

For me, the most important is the blade you’ve showed us here. Cartouches are no doubt engraved or etched in the 18th century. These were very popular, I think from the half to the end of the century. Latin inscription “Pro deo et Patria” (“For God and Motherland”) seems to be Polish (although it seems to me, but no sure, that sometimes you can meet such inscriptions on Hungarian blades too). Well, to be honest, for me, it’s 99 % Polish, especially when it is fitted to the Russian handle.

We can be sure this sabre belonged to one of the Polish officers, during the years 1815-30. We can guess it was used during the November Uprising in 1831. Blade of old Polish sabre was refitted, and we can suppose, because of the great patriotic exultation – inscription like this one, were of great importance for those who were fighting for Polish freedom then.

I haven’t much time today, so I can’t dig in the museum’s magazines. It’s hard to answer, do we have such sabres like this. There all are unique. I can tell no, we haven’t because there is no sabre in Russian fittings, and “Pro deo and Patria” blade. I can tell yes, because we’ve got few Russian sabres with old Polish blades. There is also Austrian sabre with blade where you can find such inscription, but I can’t remember now, is it identical or not. I found similar blade in sabre like this:

1st April 2005, 08:12 AM	#3
wolviex Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Poland, Krakow Posts: 418	What a nice sabre!!! Very Polish but Russian . The handle looks like of Russian sabre model 1809. Following Czerwinski and Dudek book about sabres used by Polish soldiers, handles like this were made for and by Polish officers from ca. 1815 to 1830, often without fabric marks. Sometimes, of course fabric Russian sabres were in use also. For me, the most important is the blade you’ve showed us here. Cartouches are no doubt engraved or etched in the 18th century. These were very popular, I think from the half to the end of the century. Latin inscription “Pro deo et Patria” (“For God and Motherland”) seems to be Polish (although it seems to me, but no sure, that sometimes you can meet such inscriptions on Hungarian blades too). Well, to be honest, for me, it’s 99 % Polish, especially when it is fitted to the Russian handle. We can be sure this sabre belonged to one of the Polish officers, during the years 1815-30. We can guess it was used during the November Uprising in 1831. Blade of old Polish sabre was refitted, and we can suppose, because of the great patriotic exultation – inscription like this one, were of great importance for those who were fighting for Polish freedom then. I haven’t much time today, so I can’t dig in the museum’s magazines. It’s hard to answer, do we have such sabres like this. There all are unique. I can tell no, we haven’t because there is no sabre in Russian fittings, and “Pro deo and Patria” blade. I can tell yes, because we’ve got few Russian sabres with old Polish blades. There is also Austrian sabre with blade where you can find such inscription, but I can’t remember now, is it identical or not. I found similar blade in sabre like this: Attached Images