19thc Syrian Saif with European blade

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Ok British influence makes sense with the so-called berber swords as we have also a lot of koummia blades from "London" or copies.
For Syrian sword, I'm not convinced at all, most of Syrian blades are styrians, Eastern European and of course Persian. Lot of Arabian swords have German blades and I think Harry that you have a German blade.
And i'm not a specialist at all like Jim but i think one of the sword pictured above is Prussian?
Best,
Kubur

Actually it is indeed unusual to see a British blade in an Arab sword, and it is well noted by Elgood that Persian blades were in the highest esteem by them, followed closely by those of India. Many blades were of Caucasian origin as well as those termed 'shintayan', which seem to be Hungarian, however those were usually typically made in Germany or Styria.

It is well noted thus that German blades were indeed present, and may well have filtered into these markets through any of the source regions named.
The thing about this particular blade form, which I suggest is a British M1796 light cavalry, is that these are remarkably difficult to distinguish from the German ones being suggested.
Those are I presume the Prussian M1811 cavalry sabre, known as the 'Blucher Sabel'. The reason for this ironically is that in the years prior to 1811, the Germans ordered many British M1796 blades, to the degree that the Prussians designed their own stirrup hilt sabre in that year.
Other than distinguishing markings or proof stamps, I have not found any notes to tell the British from the German blades, while the hilts had subtle differences.

It does seem an anomaly to see one of these presumably British blades in one of these Syrian mounted sabres, but it is hard to really question considering the many trade exchange circumstances which may have accounted for the combination.
One circumstance which may have increased the potential for a British blade in one of these 'Baddawi' hilts would be that these type blades continued being produced by British makers long after the 1821 swords superceded the 1796. These were for the British units in India, as seen in examples here.