Sabre de Chasseurs d'Orleans.
Jul 27, 2016 17:04:09 GMT
Post by Uhlan on Jul 27, 2016 17:04:09 GMT
The Chasseurs d'Orleans Sabre.
Part 1.
Short history of the 1th Battalion Chasseurs d'Orleans.( For additional information see notes )
In 1837, two senior officers, Delvigne and Pontcharra, designed and perfected a portable carbine, which was named after them.
The Duke of Orleans, Ferdinand-Philippe, receives from his father, King Louis-Philippe, the command to establish a special elite unit that year at the military camp at Vincennes, to test this carbine.
This empty shell is all that is left.
This elite company takes the name of the "Compagnie des Chasseurs d'Essai", the Company of Test-Hunters. Equipped with material, especially lighter and more functional than that of the conventional infantry, and dressed in dark and simple uniforms, this unit appears to be well suited for covert operations and fast action.
This test company was an immediate success. As the name suggests, the company will be dissolved as soon as the testing of the carbine was completed successfully. By Royal Decree though, the company is immediately extended to a battalion. The company will receive in 1838 the name of "Provisoire Bataillon de Chasseurs à Pied," the Provisional Battalion Hunters-to-foot.
At the urging of several generals who want more battalions of this type, King Louis-Philippe de Bourbon agrees in September 1840 to establish 10 additional battalions Chasseurs à Pied. The ,,Provisoire the Bataillon de Chasseurs à Pied"" is called from then on "1er Bataillon de Chasseurs à Pied", 1st Battalion Hunters-to-foot. Some battalions are sent to Algeria to participate in the colonial war.
The battalions prove their worth immediately. See notes: The battle of Sidi Brahim.
In memory of their benefactor and first Commander the Duke of Orleans, who dies in 1841, in that year the 1st Chasseurs Battalion is named Chasseurs d'Orleans and their badge, as seen on the back strap of their sabres, was a stylized Bourbon beehive.
According to l'Hoste all other battalions had the hunting horn badge on the back strap, but I see early sabres with leather scabbards without any badges.
Manceau was the designer of the Chasseur sabre.
Part 2: The sabre.
The poincons.
The blade is stamped B under crown in oval, which is the stamp of the inspector of Coulaux et Cie between 1838 and 1860 and B under star in shield for Balaran who was director from the beginning of 1834 to 1850.
The spine text reads: Manufacture de Klingenthal Coulaux et Cie, which gives a date of app. 1850 - 1855, according to the Klingenthal site. ( See notes )
Since the Chasseur a Pied element in the French Army is a creation of the Bourbon King and his son, the Duke of Orleans, so created during the Monarchy de Juillet (1830 - 1848), this sabre with the Orleans badge must have been made before the end of the reign of the Monarchy. To date this sabre not later then 1848 seems appropriate. This also seems to suggest that this specific text on the spine was already in use at least in 1848.
According to l"Hoste the earliest examples of the sabre had two differences of design of the hilt compared to later models.
1. The upper branch of the guard seems to go under the ring on the knuckle bow and than up to the pommel cap. It looks like the branches were bunched up, with the ring element holding them together.
This is the case on my sabre.
2. The earlier sabres have a laurel branch on the right and an oak branch to the left. This can also be observed on my sabre.
Possibly re- hilted during its service life, the pommel had that telling flat peen, to fix the eternal loose tang nut problem.
In more recent times a collector or the seller thought it a good idea to do some work on it. The results were bad.
The new wire was too thick because of too few turns, bending the back strap upwards and ,,fixed'' in an amateurish way, pushing the back strap out of line where it sits in the ferrule. The pommel cap was forced out of joint because of this.
The guard was loose and the leather washer, seated originally between the blade and the guard, was missing. Also part of the first rib on the horn grip, just above the ferrule, was broken off.
I had to take the sabre apart to rewire and restore the grip, re-position the back strap and tighten and secure the tang nut.
The first rib restored.
Rib restored, new wire and the backstrap and the pommel cap in the right place.
Then I had to shim the knuckle bow hook that hooks into the back strap. There was too much play there, as you can see in the picture. This was caused by the loss of the original leather washer that was seated between the blade and the guard. Since putting the new washer back into the original position would invite future play again, as the leather would dry out etc etc, I choose to have the blade sit directly on the guard.
That is why I also had to shim the hook. The knuckle bow and the back strap are solidly connected now and the blade sings again.
Much better. I also polished the blade and the scabbard.
This sabre is of the second generation. Hence the steel scabbard.
First generation sabres had a leather scabbard with three piece bronze set of scabbard furniture, much like the first generation M1821 and M1845 Infantry sabres.
These three bronze pieces of scabbard furniture one sees again on the second generation steel scabbards for the higher ranking Officers.
The guard.
According to l"Hoste, the earliest examples of the sabre had two differences of design of the hilt compared to later models.
( See l'Hoste, page 298 )
1. The upper branch of the guard seems to go under the ring on the knuckle bow and than up to the pommel cap. It looks like the branches were bunched up, with the ring element holding them together.This is the case on my sabre.
2. The earlier sabres have a laurel branch on the right and an oak branch to the left. This can also be observed on my sabre. On later hilts there are two laurel branches. ( Note: Statements on the double laurel branch design being of a later date vary. Confusion may have been caused by the occurrence of various small design differences on higher Officers sabre guards. Higher Officers could order their sabres from private contractors, who, in act, re-designed detail on the guards, as seen here on this guard.
Superior Officers guard with 6 flags mounted with torches. The latter element is not standard.
The torches should have been spear points.
3. All sabres for the lower ranking Officers have four flags on the guard, of which two are unfolded. Mine is therefore a sabre for a lower ranking Officer.
The quality of the casts.
There is a great difference in the quality of the hilt casting and chasing.
Also, not all sabres have detailed casting on the inside of the guard. While the standard ferrule is rather flat, some have fancy detail.
Mine seems to be above average as far as I can determine from the examples I could find. The detail here is extraordinary fine, with very fine sablé and well finished ajour work reminiscent of the better épée.
As is usual with the French sabres, there is great variety in the sculpting on the backstap.
This is clear on late models, say after 1871, were the emphasis is focused on baroque element, sometimes with a small space for the initials of the owner as can be seen in the pictures above.
The badges have very much gone by then, though it seems, but I cannot verify this, that the large Bourbon beehive badge on the backstrap is changed here and there to a less obvious small beehive symbol on the guard.
It is understandable that the 1st Battalion would not let their badge of honour be taken away by a long line of incompetent and ever changing French governments.
My sabre was in use after 1855 when the decree went out to change the leather scabbards for steel ones, with the Bourbons long gone. Still, the badge was not filed off.
The blade.
Extraordinary pipe back, with the pipe going DOWN under what would be the yelman on a normal pipeback.
Whether this blade may be called a pipeback at all is open for discussion as far as I am concerned. It is of quite extraordinary design. The pipe is not round at all, but is 8mm wide and 4mm high at the guard. It ends at the ,,fake'' yelman, where it descends and turns into a sharp ridge at either side, which makes this last section of the blade very stiff, contrary to a standard pipe back blade, with the pipe going in a straight line from guard to tip, which makes it quite flexible at the yelman section. As such, this blade behaves more like the spear pointed Cavalry sabre blades. Also, the blade is not flat, but bulges out in the middle. I have taken the distal taper of the blade from this bulge.
SECTION at the guard.
This sabre, in the configuration under discussion here, is highly recommended for in-house defence. It is extremely well balanced, fast, nimble and very stiff. It will poke holes into anything but Kevlar.
There are examples with the usual straight pipe and real yelman.
Which was the more common is unclear to me.
Later on, during the Third Republic, we can see sabres with a plethora of fantasy blades, signalling the end of the sabre as a weapon area. A trend which can also be observed with the M1882 Infantry and Cavalry Officers sabres.
Looking at what is offered in the market, I may count myself very lucky to score this superb example of a Chasseur sabre with a very interesting blade. Sure, it needed an overhaul, but that was reflected in the price.
Nor the seller, nor me, to my shame, knew what it really was. Had the seller known, he would have doubled if not tripled the price. That is where the luck comes in. I learned a lot doing the research, but there is still much more out there.
The French are very proud of their Chasseurs and with reason. This exceptional sabre deserves a place of honour in any collection.
Cheers.
Statistics.
Blade length : 76 cm.
Blade width : 30 mm at guard and still 28mm half way.
Blade weight : 825 gram.
Total weight : 1268 gram.
POB : 9 cm.
Distal taper pipe : 8mm at guard - 6mm at POB - 5mm half way - 3.5mm at one inch from the tip.
Distal taper blade: 6.5mm - 3mm - 2.5mm - 1mm.
Notes.
Klingenthal: www.klingenthal.fr/presentation_marquages.htm
Dave Kelly on the pipeback sabre: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/27616/pipeback-saber
Chasseurs in general: translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FChasseur_%25C3%25A0_pied&edit-text=&act=url
Their statue: translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FChasseur_%25C3%25A0_pied_%2528Auguste_Arnaud%2529&edit-text=&act=url
History of the 25th Battalion: translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fgallica.bnf.fr%2Fark%3A%2F12148%2Fbpt6k6357029z%2Ff7.image&edit-text=&act=url
List of units: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_unit%C3%A9s_de_chasseurs_%C3%A0_pied_de_l%27Arm%C3%A9e_fran%C3%A7aise
The 10th Battalion: translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F10e_bataillon_de_chasseurs_%25C3%25A0_pied&edit-text=&act=url
The First Battalion: translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F1er_bataillon_de_chasseurs_%25C3%25A0_pied&edit-text=&act=url&act=url
Les Chasseurs d'Orleans:
The battle of Sidi Brahim: 1815-1918.blogspot.nl/2010/12/sidi-brahim-1845.html
The battle of Sidi Brahim: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sidi_Brahim
Vincennes, Place Militaire: www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/vincennes-place-militaire
History of Vincennes: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Vincennes
Cantinières and Vivandières of the French Army: www.cantinieres.com/
Please give these tough ladies a break and read this interesting essay. They had a hard and dangerous life, bringing much needed comfort to the troops.