British 1803 pattern flank officer sword?

[Radboud]

Thanks for sharing that, kronckew.

From my understanding, the idea of centralised proof testing of swords was still in it's infancy in the late 18th Century. It wasn't until the 1796 Pattern cavalry trooper's swords that we begin to see proof marks from the government Ordnance Board.

In later quality testing, they changed the practice of bending the blade to hitting it against a cast iron bar with a spring-loaded machine. And we can begin to see the formation of what later became the standard.

[Triarii]

I have one of these with the usual conventional blade, but also owned one with a narrower and very much more curved blue & gilt blade (see pic) - so there were a number of variations.