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Post by Anuan on Mar 17, 2015 11:43:42 GMT
A friend was given this by his grandmother as a 21st Birthday present. Was wondering if anybody could help us identify the year or which organisation may have used it. Has a couple of nicks in the blade, unsure if it's ever been used in combat but I was doubting it due to how ornate it's decorated. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Uhlan
Member
Posts: 3,121
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Post by Uhlan on Mar 17, 2015 20:28:52 GMT
It is British, from the reign of George V. Whether it is Cavalry or Infantry I do not know. For questions like these it is a good thing to join Oldswords.com. The database has over 1250 entrees for British swords alone. Maybe Dave Kelly or Pino Can tell you more. Good luck!
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Post by Dave Kelly on Mar 17, 2015 21:22:45 GMT
It's a Field Artillery Officers Sword.
Should be some more info engraved on the blade as to unit afiliation.
Might get more help asking from Sword Forum Int'l as all the real Brit military sword gurus live there. ;)
Don't have a scabbard you might check out the munitions grade weaponedge stuff at KoA and get scabbard that way.
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Post by Anuan on Mar 17, 2015 22:11:11 GMT
Thanks guys! I was just coming back to say that it apparently says Royal Artillery on it. Also it has unfortunately been blunted and had its tip rounded off. From my limited understanding of this type of weapon this rather ruins a lot of the "original state" collector value, so we may attempt a restoration.
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Post by aronk on Mar 18, 2015 3:19:54 GMT
The maker may well be indicated on there somewhere. The proof slug is interesting though. If not, that would lend credence to my suspicion that it is what is called a "tailor-made" sword (essentially a poorly made sword purchased cheaply from the tailor who sold the officer his uniform).
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Post by Anuan on Mar 18, 2015 5:44:45 GMT
Thanks for your input, aronk. Is there a place the maker would normally put a mark on something like this? I'm very much out of my depth when it comes to modern military blades, and was under the impression that they tended to be mass produced for the military forces intending to use them.
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Post by Dave Kelly on Mar 18, 2015 6:06:28 GMT
Concept of factories took a while to grow. Swordmaking was a family affair with groups of forges working under a senior cartel manager who fufilled a quota of production for a type of sword whose plans were sent down by the ordnance department. The state cartel/arsenals capacity might not be able to produce enough quickly, so various subcontracts would be made out of the ordnance depart or the arsenal.
In such an atmosphere each sword is practically a one off effort with many slight variations of the model, an some collectors are anal enough to just collect hundreds of one specific model and it's quirks. ( Met a collector who had over 250 M1840 US sabres, accounting for different contractors, model years, and odd variants )
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