French 1882 Sabre

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by neekee

Hi all ~

I know this is by no means a rare sword, but I'm really curious to know more about it, and I was wondering if you experts would have anything to say about that one.

There are 3 crosses carved on the grip. Do you think it means what I think it means ? :x

The hand engravings read "Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Châtellerault / Février 1904, Off-er d'Inf-rie M-le 1882"

The 3 poinçons are, I think, G G and C

The blade is sharpened just on one side. You can see it experienced intensive sharpening on more than one occasion, I'd say.

I'm kind of curious about metals and forging methods in general, so I'll ask ...

Do you know what metal is the whole pommel/guard/quillon made of ? Doesn't rust at all.

Do you know what the blade is made of ? It looks chromed, which surprises me for a military weapon of that time which apparently was used in combat.

Any tips on taking care of it ?

Thanks in advance. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Salaams neekee ~ Well I'm no expert but I was intrigued by the 3 crosses. They would seem to me to be indicating crossed swords..thus perhaps duels? It can be seen that French Duels took place well into the 1900s and even up to the late 60s;

The last duel in France took place in 1967 when Gaston Defferre insulted René Ribière (fr) at the French parliament and was subsequently challenged to a duel fought with swords. René Ribière lost the duel, having been wounded twice. He escaped relatively uninjured, however.

(I speak here only of the popularity in France as in other countries it died out a lot earlier and generally about the WW1 period. I also restrict my small note to sword fencing duels as there were others... Not only pistols... Two chaps went against each other by tossing billiard balls!)

The more fancy dueling swords, whilst popular, were not the only swords to be used... Military weapon like yours were also popular; obviously amongst the military elite.

See this site for a comprehensive history and reason detre upon dueling. https://ohiostatepress.org/Books/Com...g%20Men/06.pdf

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.