Danish M1858 / 61 Infantry Officers Sabre.
Jan 11, 2015 11:44:34 GMT
Post by Uhlan on Jan 11, 2015 11:44:34 GMT
Bought this nifty and nice sabre from a mom and dad store at Ebay, including the sword knot, for peanuts.
Oldswords: www.oldswords.com/antiqueswords.php database helped me to track it down. The one they have in their database is a little different in some points.
(Image courtesy of Oldswords.com)
The scabbard mouth for instance ( mine has 1 rib, theirs has 3 ribs a la Prussia), the 2 little screws holding it in place ( Prussian again, while mine got only 1), but that is it, though it looks like the Oldswords version might have a narrower blade. Which of these 2 versions is the original M1858 I do not know, suffice to say mine is dated 1861.
The hilt parts are made of German Silver or Packton, an alloy of brass and lead with some pewter thrown in too. This makes for a silver coloured metal which oxydises just like the real thing. Officers in better financial health did order the real silver hilts. Those will have tax and master marks.
The wooden grip is covered in shagreen and has silver coloured wire.
The blade is at this stage of the 19th century still a fighting blade a la Montmorency. The whole package oozes quality and this sabre handles very well. The scabbard is nickle plated and has some light pickles here and there, but nothing serious. There is one small carriage dent near the drag.
Markings are the J B 1861 on top of the guard, the crown over shield on the ricasso and Kobenhavn on the underside of the guard.
The sword knot is made from gilded copper wire. When I got it, it was very dirty, but soaking it for a night in textile washing soap, which has lots of enzymes in it, cleaned it up very well. You should have seen the grimy and black water!