British pattern Infantry sword....please help

[katana]

Originally Posted by Paul Digard

Hi David

It looks like a P1827 pattern Rifle officer's sword though the design of the bugle in the hilt cartouche is slightly different to any I recall seeing before. The fullered blade and inset proof disc date it to later than c. 1850. I suspect the blade has been shortened though - the blade by itself should be around 32.5 inches with 6 or more inches after the end of the fuller.

Is there any etched decoration on the blade? I would expect a VR cypher and quite possibly the name of the regiment. There were an awful lot of volunteer rifle brigades set up in Britain in the mid Victorian era and one of these would be pretty unlikely to have seen service overseas.

Hope this helps

Paul

Thankyou Paul.....and welcome to the forum...I am sure you'll enjoy it here on the Forum.

The blade is indeed short it is 25 3/4 "" long .......6 3/4" too less than the 'regulation' length

There are no visible signs of this sword having been 'cut down', it must have been well done and very early in its life (the colouring/patina is consistant with the rest of the blade). It was the length ........or should that be ....its shortness...that threw me.It had all the characteristics of the p1827 but the length was nowhere near.

The other strange thing is that the balance of this sword is excellent and the ease of use surprised me. Perhaps this was shortened to achieve this goal Surely the extra 6 3/4" would change all that...in a negative way