Please help witha European blade in a Japanese tachi mount

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by David R

Frankly I get a bit twitchy when I see these shotgun jobs. There are Western blades in Japanese style mounts, but the conversion is absolute, a habaki is fitted, a Japanese style tang created by moving the shoulders of the blade higher, and on occasion re-tempering in the Japanese manner.
I view this one with great suspicion, and think it more likely a joining of bits from a collectors spares pile. Sorry!

Well observed David. I must admit that this distinct possibility is always the very potential 'elephant in the room' that looms. However the eternal optimist in me always tries to find reasonable solutions to these anomalies, and I try to forget that 'there be very ugly charlatans out there' in our community.

The historian in me will try to find viable explanations for odd pairings, based on the fact that often in native or colonial contexts, ersatz weapons were fashioned from components from many circumstances and repurposed as required.

Here is an example of just such an 'unholy' pairing (I call it my 'Frankenstein' espada ancha) which is created from an three bar guard from uncertain military saber donor; the hilt of an equally undetermined briquet, and a cut down 18th c. Spanish dragoon blade. These blades, made in Solingen for export to the Spanish colonies c. 1750s are often termed 'Spanish motto' blades or simply Spanish dragoon blades. There were notable volumes of these blades sent to New Spain over many years, and these ended up mounted in many sabers with the three bar hilts.

In the rural, remote frontier regions by the 19th century the true espada anchas remained in use by horsemen mostly as utility weapons, but later, the frontier regions began being patrolled by groups of horsemen in a militia/police context known as 'rurales'. While of course armed with firearms, they typically augmented their 'uniform' with the traditional wearing of a sword. There were few armorers or resources in these remote frontier towns, but there was remarkable innovation in the repurposing of just about everything.

That is my 'optimistic' explanation for 'many' of these odd combinations, but the 'truth' we will only know with the dismantling of a weapon (which I personally am reticent to do) and some advanced forensic examination.
In my sword, I am satisfied with the corroborative age on the peen, and patination visible among the components. There is a '3' on the guard suggesting its one time use probably in a Mexican cavalry unit.
As a collectible weapon, it is a monstrosity, but for a historian such as myself, one imagines what separate adventures each of these now grouped components had.

The guard is most likely from a British M1821 light cavalry saber. The Mexican army was virtually entirely supplied with surplus British arms which were sold to them in the 1820s. While this was mostly muskets and various firearms, numbers of edged weapons of course found inclusion. In a museum here in Texas there is a M1821 saber found on the field at San Jacinto if I recall.