Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 22, 2015 14:11:38 GMT
Recently I became interested in these artifacts of times gone by. They reflect the political turmoil of the 18th and 19th Century like no other. Any official with a smallsword as part of his dress code had to do away with symbols of former regimes as presented on pommels and guards. So, there are specimen around that show the removal of say, the French cockerel from the guard and thus leaving a blank space there. On others such unwelcome signs were covered up with plaquettes. Mostly, I am sure, these swords were dissapeared in various closets never to be seen again and more apropriate symbols of status aquired at the local shop. And of course, they give good insight into the standards of workmanship of that time and as such they interest me also. Some have detailing so very fine it is hard to believe. Blades were provided by Solingen and Klingenthal, be they triangular, half round or flat, one could take ones pick and lengths varied also. Also one could pick a design from the catalogue and mix that with elements from other designs. This confusing, to me that is, array of hilts was not only common in France, but was Europe wide. It looks like every nation thumbed through the same catalogues and only in details one can make out whether some specimen is Russian, French or German. Yes, there is a lot to see here and for me, a lot to learn. So, to make an end to this story, here are 9 of the little prickers I bought in the last few weeks. I hope you like them. I do for sure! 18th C. French Officers smallsword. Officer of the Ecole des Mines. 3th Rep. Officier Superieur. 1 Empire et Restouration. Clavier au lion couche. Epee d'Officier de toutes armes, M1872, 3th Rep. Epee d'Officier de la Garde Imperiale, Seconde Empire. Epee d'Officier d'etat major au profil d'Henry IV, pommeau a la Fleur de Lis. Restouration. Athena. Epee d'Officier. Restouration. Epee d'Officier d'etat major. Clavier a la toile d'aragnee. Premier Empire ou Restouration. (This is where even the experts get confused) This one was sold to me as III republic, which it aint. Watch that big fat bee on the pommel. Also the craftmanship and the openwork guard talk 1 Empire to me. This was for an Officer in the Military Justice Department, probably the Navy branch. See that shell under the guard? That's why! Cheers.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Feb 22, 2015 14:32:37 GMT
I recently volunteered for a study group for a new vaccine against Chronic Libindinous Purchase of Swords (CLPS). I'm happy to report that the vaccine has been a complete and total failure....
Oh, nice pimp sticks...
:P
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Uhlan
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Posts: 3,121
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 22, 2015 14:48:34 GMT
As I seem to suffer from CLPS also, I can only say one thing about this devastating report on the merits and deplorable state of modern medicine: Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice! Note that I am in the final stage, where one becomes three with ease as the brain is eaten away by great big slimy parasites. I had to sneeze just now. Wanna see what came out?
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Post by aronk on Feb 22, 2015 16:46:45 GMT
Beautiful swords. The French do know their way around sword design.
Thankfully my CLPS is still relatively mild...
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Post by Dave Kelly on Feb 22, 2015 19:16:57 GMT
It was an 1894 Swiss Cav Off Saber.
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 22, 2015 19:49:36 GMT
How did you know that? Now I am getting paranoid too. Help! Help! Au Secour! Mon Dieu, les Americains se sont a la porte!
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Post by aronk on Feb 22, 2015 20:14:30 GMT
Oui, nous sommes! Nous sommes venus pour vos épées!
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 22, 2015 20:20:51 GMT
AAAAAAARCH!!!
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Post by Afoo on Feb 23, 2015 5:56:39 GMT
moi aussi! Donnez a moi!
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 23, 2015 12:00:13 GMT
Parbleu et fi donc! Nous sommes en guerre Monsieur!
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 23, 2015 13:46:04 GMT
moi aussi! Donnez la moi! ^^ And a greedy "moi d'abord"
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 23, 2015 13:51:15 GMT
Parbleu et fi donc! Nous sommes en guerre Monsieur! In presuming there is some teasing going on in the background with foodstuff I say "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" -
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 23, 2015 14:08:58 GMT
I read or saw somewhere that high class small swords were produced with a triangular cross section that had a fuller on each face, therefore being sharper and more useful at a slashing attack, is that legend or real ? I have a competition foil blade from the late 70's that snapped about 2 inches from the tip, being the non-wasteful type I rescued it from the bin and added a bamboo grip and sheath to create a "gentleman's cane", sharpening the point in the process, (I was just a teenager at the time and so had my first "real" sword) I still have it today 40+ years later
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 23, 2015 16:02:17 GMT
Glad you bring this up Aussie. The above young rogues do not have an incling yet of the gravity of learned discourse between gentlemen. In fact they are too young to be called gentlemen at all......if they ever will be..... Yes! I mean you two! Les Americains! In the back of the class!
I think most had a triangular cross section. looking at the blade, when holding the sword, would show the two fullered sides, the fullers starting about 2" from the guard and going all the way down to the tip. So there is a small ricasso for the finger. The underside is the base of the triangle, is somewhat broader and is hollow ground, also all the way to the tip. So, what you get is a very stiff, very light, but still somewhat flexible, (just enough not to snap in a badly landed thrust), blade. There is a lot of knowledge poured into this construction. They were designed for thrusting mainly, ( I have yet to encounter one with sharp sides) and are extreemly fast and with that strong needle point, very, very dangerous in the hands of a trained fencer. As most of the people carrying these little killers were trained in that art, as it was integrated in ones upbringing, they made formidable foos. Even later in life when they would carry the little gala swords to the opera and have pot bellies from the good life. It is said, that in the hands of such a person, opposition, carrying broadswords or big huge twohanders, would be well advised to think twice before pissing off someone with a little blade like that. The notion that somehow these little things were carried only for show and are not manly, (whatever that is supposed to be) and had no merit as a weapon, is a very dangerous one indeed. Looking down on them shows profound ingnorance, boardering on retarded stupidity. Better to see the little prickers for what they really are: perfected and perfect killers in fancy dress. If you want I can insert some pictures of a typical blade later.
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Post by Afoo on Feb 23, 2015 18:15:09 GMT
Glad you bring this up Aussie. The above young rogues do not have an incling yet of the gravity of learned discourse between gentlemen. In fact they are too young to be called gentlemen at all......if they ever will be..... Yes! I mean you two! Les Americains! In the back of the class! [...] Looking down on them shows profound ingnorance, boardering on retarded stupidity. Better to see the little prickers for what they really are: perfected and perfect killers in fancy dress. If you want I can insert some pictures of a typical blade later. So we are now less learned than the Australians?!?! How is that possible - they are all too busy being upside down I agree with the rest of the statement though - they are deceptively dangerous. Nothing more scary than the sharp point of a smallsword piercing its way through your abdomen with almost zero effort.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2015 20:53:48 GMT
Such an impressive array of pointy things! That infantry officers fought with these at the battlefields even after Napoleon's age testify of their subtle effectiveness.
I really like the last 2: according to the Michel Petard book on French infantry swords, the one with the web might be a 1823 ''epee de fantaisie''. The web was appreciated by officers of the Guard as it symbolized faithfulness, the sword was thus probably for a nostalgic imperial officer.
I want to see the blades though, in their full splendor!
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 23, 2015 21:49:55 GMT
Hey Pino!
Thank you for your comments. I might have some of the discriptions wrong. I have to repeat what was stated in the invoices as I do not have the Petard book yet, but I am starting to see what is what, based on what I have in my small collection. It is like detective work and Art History combined. So, you might be right about the one with the web. The former owner is no ninny though. Also, some designs or non offending ( to the new regime ) parts of it were kept and used in later periods. According to the former owner of the spider web one, this is the symbol of the Staff Officer , as a spider who holds all the threads and he dates it as Empire or Restouration, which in itself shows how insecure the dating can be even for someone who is into this subject for very long. As for the blade splendour, I do think most have not had any blue and gild ever. I cannot find any traces of gilding anywhere and I have the tools to have a really, really good look. Could be that all that was polished off in time though, as the old school etching was not very deep, but I doubt that, also because bluing and gilding were optional, like with the Prussian Degen and Extra Sabel of later date. There is one in the mail right now that has what looks like a good portion of the original blue and gild intact and I got it for a reasonable price too, which is lucky. I will show it when it arrives. The smallswords with intact blue and gild are mostly too pricy for me. The ratio is 2-3 of mine to 1 of those and since I am more interested in the hilts, because they tell a story and all blades, gilded or not, are basically the same, I go for the ones I show here. Most have scabbards or portions thereof and that alone makes mine expensive enough, With the very expensive ones one goes into provenance territory. Because it belonged to Duke or General so and so, it is suddenly worth a small fortune. I say bullocks to that. But if you insist I will show some blades. The one with Athena on the hilt has the owners initials (?) engraved. I like those little human touches.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 23, 2015 22:06:23 GMT
Ce est vous qui êtes à l'envers sur le pôle nord " Something like this but not so Anglais,
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Uhlan
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Posts: 3,121
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 23, 2015 22:20:17 GMT
I like his videos. He seems to know what he is talking about and does this in a no nonsense way. Good show. That's a much bigger Infantry blade, but sure, the little blades look like that. Oh, what the heck, I'll post some tomorrow. It's 24.00 hours over here and I go upstairs now. Y'all keep on whining untill I do, don't you? Impertinent rascals. Socialists!
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Uhlan
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Posts: 3,121
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Post by Uhlan on Feb 24, 2015 14:59:39 GMT
These came in today. Both are silver plated, as I cannot find any tax marks. This is not conclusive though, since small silver often went without. As you can see, both have triangular, blued and gilded blades. One has the scabbard, with silvered fittings, though it is cracked right above the chape. I need to fix that. What also needs fixing is the red rust on the blue. Both swords have this and that will be problematic to remove, but it can be done. The smallsword with the ajour guard showes incredible detail. This must have been the work of a master juweller. All relief is undercut. A real little sculpture! Probably Seconde Empire. Service d'Administration. That will be the ,, Horn of Plenty '' symbols. Ironic. Have to take a closer look at that eagle. Top of the blade. Very nice blue. Hollow ground underside of the blade. Seconde Empire? They are just in, no time for a closer look yet. The front grip plate has a small piece missing and the back plate is a little loose. No problem. Fixable. Some detail. Made with Super Zoom. Top of the blade. The blue is much deeper than came out in this picture. Not easy to photograph. The hollow ground underside. Gilding in full splendour. I have to study the engraved patterns. With these two swords the patterns seem to be identical. There are some more coming in. I will keep you all posted. And again I hit the like button instead of edit. Balls!
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