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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 2, 2013 22:01:59 GMT
I finally got around to taking some pics of an old saber that was found inside the trunk of an old car at my grandfather's salvage yard back in the early 80's... it was left to me (along with his Winchester 1892 carbine and a gold and diamond ring) when he passed away. I took it to one of my history prof's back in the late 90's so that he could give me some info on it - he said it looked like a Mexican-American War saber, but wasn't too sure. I'm hoping someone here can help me clear things up since there are NO visible markings on the blade, including maker's mark or anything like that, plus it does not have a grip or scabbard. It was (unprofessionally) cleaned up by a close friend before I knew what to do/not do... fortunately, the tang and its patina/rust were left intact. Below are some pictures I took recently. Any help figuring out its provenance would be greatly appreciated. BTW, pics are full size, couldn't figure out how to make them SBG friendly, so you can see the entire pic by right clicking and opening in a new window/tab. Full view from the right side Right side again Left side Horizontal view Mid-section of blade Tang and partial blade - left side Tang and partial blade - right side Tang Tang again
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Post by Dave Kelly on Nov 2, 2013 22:42:14 GMT
How long is the blade and how wide towrds the guard.tang? 35.5x1.25 would be an M1840. 34.5x1 1/8 is M1860. Tang isn't right for that though...
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 3, 2013 20:38:52 GMT
Stats: Length: 33 in. Tang length: 7 1/4 in. Tang width: 7/8 in. (right before the beginning of the sharp edge) Tang thickness: 1/4 in. Weight: (bare blade) 13.6 oz.
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Nov 3, 2013 21:46:06 GMT
I'm stumped (without a hilt or markings). It's a very common montmorency style blade. The soft curve does suggest that it's 1822-1918 date range, rather than earlier. The underworked tang has me pzzled. And the 33 inch blade is too short to be french military.
Sorry. Lot of options open.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 3, 2013 22:11:11 GMT
Thanks for the help... the tang is the puzzler, isn't it?
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 4, 2013 23:03:37 GMT
Anyone else willing to guess at what type of saber this is?
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Post by william m on Nov 4, 2013 23:10:01 GMT
Looks like the blade from a French 1822, or in this case the American variant. Additionally the blade looks like it has been cut down or broken from the original sword. Then the bottom of the blade was worked to be a crude tang, which may have been a project in progress or perhaps just had a since removed cord grip.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on Nov 4, 2013 23:49:34 GMT
I may have a clue for you. A friend of mine here in Southern Ohio had a box *full* of old sword blades. I traded some mead for a few...and this was the story he fed me. These were swords from the surrender of the Confederacy, so they snapped them off at the hilt...(ish) I've never seen another of these, but his story was plausible. Sooooo...maybe it's a harshly retired civil war sword?
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 5, 2013 2:29:15 GMT
wow.. thanks for the info guys. I have NO clue to its origins, other than it was found in an old junk car that was sold to my grandfather's salvage yard in the early 80's... it was in the trunk of the car with some other stuff, but all of the rest was junk. This was the only thing that was actually valuable from the car (it was eventually crushed and sold as scrap metal). The sword has what appears to be a couple of nicks on the blade, look like blade on blade contact to me, but don't know if they were "new" or from some kind of actual combat.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 6, 2013 3:58:05 GMT
Anyone else care to guess at the make/model of my grandfather's antique sword? Still interested in your guesses/suggestions. On another note, my wife says her dad has his great grandfather's sword (also a saber) that he wore in battle back in the 1800's in Camargo Mexico (across the river from Rio Grande City in Starr County, TX). I've never seen it, since he keeps it in storage and rarely takes it out for display. She says it's in really good shape except for a bit of loose leather from the grip. I'll see if I can get some pictures of it soon.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Nov 6, 2013 4:06:54 GMT
On the assumption that this is quite probably a defaced blade with the tang snapped off we are back to the many types of M1840 styled cavalry weapons made or exported into the US for the Civil War. These blades were generally of the 35.5x1.25 in size. Without a lot more import it's hard to distinguish the sword from the variety of these manufactured in europe or by both the north and south.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Nov 6, 2013 4:25:38 GMT
So basically, I would have to probably take it to an expert in Civil War era swords and hope he gets lucky identifying it. If that's the case (as it looks like it'll be), It'll go back into storage. Thanks for all the help. Sometimes the excitement of research is more important to me than the actual conclusion.
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