A Prussian Artillery ,, Wachtmeister'' sabre of 1845.
Apr 11, 2020 12:23:48 GMT
Post by Uhlan on Apr 11, 2020 12:23:48 GMT
Introduction.
If you go on Deutsche Blankwaffen Forum or other German fora, you may notice the term ,,Kammerstück''.
A Kammerstück is an arm, sabre, issued by the Army. The Kammer's function was much like an accounting office, where all issued arms were kept on the (Tax) rolls and where all the stamps on these weapons were issued and on occassion renewed and updated, the latter including the Army, regiment and unit and rack stamps.
All parts or almost all parts of a Kammerstück had (Kammer) stamps and on the spine, in the case of sabres, was stamped the so called ,,Abnahme'' stamp, with the date when the weapon was passed by the Kammer to the Army, made up from the first letters of the monarchs name and the year. Underneath would be the stamp of the inspector of taxes indicating taxes were duly paid. When the sabre needed revision and after the work was done, the pommel or new peen or other new parts would again be stamped with Kammer inspection stamps.
An ,,Eigentums Stück'' refers to a private order weapon, bought and paid for by the Officer or trooper.
Troopers could wear their privately acquired sabre or Degen only in a civilian context, never while on duty. These were called the ,,Extra'' sabres or Degen.
The Officers could wear their Eigentums Stücke while on the job.
As these Eigentums Stücke were bought by a private person, Officers or troopers alike, these weapons were never stamped by the Kammer. They could have the cypher of the monarch etched on the blade, but never the date stamps nor any other Kammer inspection and tax stamps you'll find on Kammerstücke.
In short: They were off the record.
I say this because one often sees Officers Eigentums Stücke that are perfect copies of the sabres issued by the Kammer and the only way to discern whether the sabre in question is an Eigentums Stück or not, is to look for stamps on the parts, the date stamp on the blade spine being the most obvious one to look for.
The sabre under review here is for 100% an Artillery Wachtmeister sabre for instance, but an Eigentums Stück. There are no Kammer stamps to be seen. The only clue as to the period it was made is the monogram of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV etched in the blade.
The model under review here is the first of its line and dates from around 1845.
By the way, Frederick IV was totally my kind of a guy. He spend 64.000 Taler (!) to save an important book collection. This antiquarian streak, for me, points in the general direction of ,,sort of good guy''.
An Artillery Wachtmeister with his wife and sabre.
Image courtesy of Mario from DBF.
The sabre.
As you can see in the image, the type went through the same gradual decline as did all other sabres in the 19th century, be they Eigentums - or Kammerstücke for Officers and troopers alike.
Image courtesy of Ulfberth from DBF.
At the bottom we see the battle ready sabre from circa 1845, the second one, from circa 1880, looking quite under the weather already and the third, on top, the type issued around 1915, the malnourished street urchin from the three. The decline of course was even more visible in the WWI issues from after 1916 when the shortages hit home. To my chagrin I don't have an image of the latter.
Image courtesy of Ulfberth from DBF.
And here are the business ends of the blades. The 1845 model at the left is the full blown battle sabre, the middle one already having second thoughts about that sort of situation and the last one might be conveying the message: ,,Of course I love you honey. Oops, I left my keys in the car. Be right back...''.
It must be said though, that however many of these later Degen are not functional at all, their strength lays in their beauty, which can be considerable and so makes them worthy of collecting in their own right, as memento to the many anonymous craftsmen who often gave their best.
Image courtesy of Ulfberth from DBF.
There is a variant called the ,, Oberst Ross Arzt Säbel'', the sabre for Horse Veterinarian Officers.
That one looks just the same, but does not have the cannon on the front langet.
The right sword knot directive.
IMAGE courtesy of Ulfberth from DBF.
Before, the knot was like the later standard Imperial German Officers field knot. The difference being that it had two lines of silver braid on the lanyard instead of the later three.
The knot I show here has three lines of silver braid and thus does not belong to the sabre, but what the hell. I know Germans are and were very anal, bordering on maniacal ridiculousness in the eyes of some non Germans, about such things as a sword knot's connection to rank (status!) but this one has to do.
If you should want to delve into the German sword knots be warned. They got a knot for everybody and his auntie too. Rank, sub rank, sub sub rank only on Sundays with an even date?
You name it, they got it.
Work.
The blade.
The blade was as black as night with small black spotting all over.
Image courtesy of the seller.
That was a problem because the blade is decorated for over half its length.
I had to be extra careful here.
On 28-03-2020 I started with the cleaning of one side. It looked bad, but after a while it became clear that the damage was not going very deep for the most part. There was lots of it though.
In the beginning I had my doubts as to the sabre being savable at all.
After some work it started to look a bit like a blade again.
Not like some abandoned, patina infested, 1930's fire truck engine block dip stick. I really have a problem with those folks that allow this to happen.
,,Muh patina'' my @ss. It's vandalism. Nothing less.
Saved the ugly dark and dirty decorations by making a small oval shaped wood block that fits into the fuller and covered that tightly with a small bit of textile. The point of this is that now, with this stiff little block, only the high spots will be polished and the dark background will not be rubbed off. Used a good silver polish as medium and polished away. It worked very well. The decoration has its silvery look again and what contrast there was left remained. Even the very fine etched detailing was not touched. Quite pleased with the results.
The silvery grey panels with their softer sheen contrast nicely with the high polished blade.
The hilt.
Lots of small workies to do. This is going to be fun!
The back strap was lose. The pins through the grip that held the hilt assembly in place had disappeared and then someone saw fit to hammer in an iron nail to hold the assembly together a bit.
What to do? Looking at other examples of this sabre model I found that the pins should be made from brass. Luckily the local DIY market sells these nice brass hinges in many sizes, so that problem can be solved by sacrificing two hinges with pins of the right head size.
Pin heads should be close to about 4.5 - 5 mm.
And it needed a new felt washer too.
Most of the gild on the hilt is gone and on the scabbard furniture the gild was so thin that copper molecules had already migrated to the surface.
All parts needed a good cleaning with a very soft silver polish.
Once I had the back strap off, I found that what looks like the upper half a lion head only, depicts in fact the lion skin Hercules wore over his shoulder. At the back you can see the front (?) paws crossing to the back under the mane. There are depictions of Hercules holding the lion by the snaut and ripping off the lower jaw. That's why there's only the upper part of the lion head shown here. So, this lion skin pointing to Hercules is there to give the warrior the strength and courage of not only the lion, but of this heroic Slayer of Lions as well.
The grip and the wire.
The grip wire was all gone and the shagreen grip cover was in ,,used'' condition. There was not much one could do about that, except from cleaning and conditioning a bit. I decided to give the shagreen a face lift with a bit of water thinned black leather restoration cream. Now it looks rather fresh and a little closer to the original that used to be black.
So, I had to make some new wire too.
I found some images online that showed what the original wire looked like and under the back strap there were still the old wire ends left, so I could determine the gauche was about 0.4 mm.
The old holes that held the wire in place with a wood peg had to be drilled open again for the new wire to fit in and be secured again with a new wood peg and some glue. Just as it was before.
In fact the whole back strap assembly was originally glued against the back of the grip and the pins through the wings too.
Gluing the backstrap is essential for this set up to function. The grip hasn't enough mass to hold the hilt assembly in place on its own. Too skinny. Gluing the grip and the backstrap together gives a good secure, tight and solid feeling and makes the blade ring again. I used some two component glue that is rather thick so it does not run all over. A bonus is that this gluing business also secures the wire all along the back of the grip.
The new wire looks quite ,,festive'', but will tarnish over time, so it blends in better.
The scabbard.
The scabbard was in good condition. Most of the gild plate on the fittings is gone, but I leave that be.
Just cleaned the dirt off and the copper that had migrated to the surface.
The numbers.
L.O.A :: 101 cm.
L.S :: 96.5 cm.
L.Sc :: 87 cm.
L.B :: 82 cm.
Th.B :: 10 mm.
W.B :: 35 mm.
W.O.A ::1640 gram.
W.S :: 970 gram.
W.Sc :: 670 gram.
POB :: 12 cm.
About the signature on the Ricasso:
Ulfberth on DBW: 1869 läßt sich in Solingen ein Kaufmann FRIEDRICH WILHELM MATHEIS, Königsstraße 223, nachweisen. Also nicht MATTHAIS! Der Begriff Kaufmann würde m. E. eher für einen Händler, als für einen Hersteller sprechen. Die unterschiedliche Schreibweise ist im 19ten Jahrhundert nicht ganz so ungewöhnlich.
Translation:
In 1869, a merchant FRIEDRICH WILHELM MATHEIS, Königsstraße 223, was documented in Solingen. So not MATTHAIS! The term merchant would speak more for a dealer than for a manufacturer.
The different spelling is not that unusual in the 19th century.
Another possibility mentioned by Ulfberth: The firm of FW Mattheis in Leipzig, still up and running in 1949. This firm worked with Solingen made parts.
Conclusion.
This is one of those sabres that just looked too awful when emerging from the package the Postman brought in. In the end it could be saved without compromising the integrity of the blade and with some fun little jobs on the hilt. The part rolled, part etched decorations look a lot better and shine with a silvery sheen. The blade has a good new polish and really looks the part again without much loss of material. It is a nice sabre, displaying some of the trouble it encountered on its way through time.
The edge sure took some heavy hitting. In places it looks like a hack saw. I do not mind one bit and have little understanding for those folk who moan about patina, but refrain of buying a sabre with a blade that saw battle. And I can assure you, the damage was not done one sunny afternoon in grandma's garden. Yes, I like this battle tested sabre very much and it handles really well now the grip and backstrap assembly is tight and feeling like one.
That's why I did my utmost to restore it from virtual dip stick back to a sabre again.
Here's to hoping the original owner approves.
Cheers.
Notes.
Frederick William IV of Prussia - Wikipedia :: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_William_IV_of_Prussia
BWF Kriegs ausfuhrung des Artillerie Wachtmeister sabels :: www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/topic.php?id=65&highlight=wachtmeister&
F.W.MATTHEIS - Mattheis / F. W. Mattheis in Leipzig :: www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/topic.php?id=4690&s=32ed912563bed732d596a4cb822901e1
Wachtmeister - Wikipedia :: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wachtmeister
German Army (German Empire) | Military Wiki | Fandom :: military.wikia.org/wiki/German_Army_(German_Empire)
Die Zietenhusaren - Artillerieoffiziersäbel :: www.zietenhusar.ag.vu/artillerieoffiziers__bel/
My Wachtmeister post on DBW :: www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/topic.php?id=7917&highlight=Wachtmeister&
Mario DBF: 2 Kammerstücke für die Wachtmeister der Artillerie :: www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/topic.php?id=65&highlight=Wachtmeister&
German revolutions of 1848–1849 - Wikipedia :: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_revolutions_of_1848%E2%80%931849