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Post by Dave Kelly on Mar 15, 2015 2:51:29 GMT
Last week an ebay seller offered up two M1822s claiming one to be an 1826 and the other of a later date, unknown to him. I put a bid down on both swords betting I'd win one, maybe. Selling bogged down at 360.00 a piece and I got both of them. Ooops.... The three are practically identical sword wise. The top one, I already own; an 1831 Chatellrault ( Ist year arsenal production sword. ) The other two sword I got today and have just started to refurb. One has an 1826 blade the other blade is 1881. Both swords have single carrier ring scabbards which weren't mandated until 1880. The hilts on both of these sabres also have Chattelrault markings on their hilts for the period 1883-1896. The 1826 bladed sword is either an heirloom transfer or an arsenal reuse of blade. I wanted the 1826 bladed one hoping it was an 1826. ( The seller had used the Chatellrault photos for both swords, and I bought that one blind...DOH! ) Will spend some time cleaning up the last one then resell it. Will post more photos after they have been cleaned up.
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Post by aronk on Mar 15, 2015 5:39:17 GMT
Interesting about the rehilting. Not something one expects to see on an arsenal sword all that frequently.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Mar 15, 2015 12:20:04 GMT
The light cavalry sabre remained in service from 1822 to 1923 (?) Hardly changed during the period; longer ricasso and a different scabbard carry system. The heavy cav sword saw a lot of change 1804-1882. Lots of blade reuse thru two hilt changes. Heirloom enlisted weapons isn't usual. Weapons being cycled thru arsenals and depots to be refurbed and come out with mixed period common parts is more the case. Modern industrialization and fashion demands accelerated the obsolescence of weapon types just because we can :(
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Post by aronk on Mar 15, 2015 14:25:07 GMT
Interesting. More things I didn't know about French swords. The British did that quite a bit with their cavalry sabres in the later period as well (mostly because they were changing patterns too quickly), but that is the only time I can remember them rehilting to my knowledge.
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