About the French M1767 Infantry Officers sword.
May 16, 2020 21:34:01 GMT
Post by Uhlan on May 16, 2020 21:34:01 GMT
Introduction.
I would like to present two French M1767 Infantry Officers swords and one sword based on this design, but used in a more civilian context, called an ,, Epée d'un fonctionnaire''.
Background.
The M1767 was the result of the umpteenth effort made by the administration of Louis XV to regulate Officers arms and put an end to the notion that Officers were somehow exempt from the use of them ,,because the tooth fairy said so and you lowly smurfs can go pound sand''.
The regulation M1767.
Earlier attempts to introduce regulation of Officers arms had had just little effect. So what happened when the fog of battle lifted was that the hilt of the regulation M1767 could be seen everywhere, but like the little clever beavers they were, the Officers still went their own way as far as the blades were concerned, a behaviour lasting well into the 20 century.
Ergo, the M1767 shows a variety of blade designs with sometimes interesting etching, which in turn makes them attractive for the collector, as is the price, which, compared with the price of an Epée Sergent of the 1750's,is relatively low.
Epée Sergent.
I wonder what I am missing as I do not understand where this discrepancy comes from.
Description.
The parts of the ,,a la mousquetaire'' hilts of the M1767 were cast from brass. There was an option to have this brass silver plated.
The pas d'ane are still quite large compared to a civilian smallsword of the time but hardly functional.
That functionality was something of the past by now. However these pas d'ane, functional or not, still need to have a high pas d'ane block. The shells, small as they are, offer only rudimentary hand protection. The thin shells have a border, on front and back, for strength and this border gives a nice decorative effect too. They are of simillar size, both in front and back.
It should be clear by now that we are already a long way away from the old Epée Forte.
The grips were wired with twisted and rather thick copper wire, as per regulation and plating was also an option here. Many were wired according to the taste of the Officer though. The traditional turks heads were disposed off on some examples. A ferule at either end of the grip takes away the need for them.
The pommel is a quite large ,,pumpkin'' or as the French like to call them ,,au melon'' with a small peen block on top. The pumpkin motive is repeated at the end of the single guilon and in the lines in the pas d'ane block and on the, rather fragile, knuckle bow.
The knuckle bow is quite thin, with a thicker bulge in the middle and has an angular shape. It is important to note here that Mr. l'Hoste describes the two forms of knuckle bow in use at this time, the angular, kind of square, bow of the military sword and the more rounded design used on the civilian swords. The hilts in total are much larger than those seen on civilian small swords and can be used easily with gauntlets if one should wish to do so.
On the later version of the M1767, dating from the years 1775-1776, the pommel is made somewhat longer and more slender, more stretched out if you will and olive shaped and the pas d'ane were lowered.
The bulge in the middle of the knuckle bow lost the bulge on the inside, but kept the bulge on the outside.
Other minor modifications followed with the ordnance's of 1779, 1784 and 1786.
The regulation blade did not change much over time. It was a double edged slender sword blade with a fuller in the middle and according to the ordnance of September 2 - 1775 of a length of 70.4 cm for the Officers Etat Major and 5.4 to 8.1 cm longer for Officers of the lower ranks, who kept the somewhat heavier hilts, albeit that now the pommel had the olive shape as mentioned above.
The modded version of the M1767 from 1775.
As you can see these minor modifications can make the detection of a particular model difficult.
Collecting wise, in cases like this I tend to go for the original model as this is often the design with the most character, later versions often being more middle of the road, stale and wimpy.
The swords.
With the Epée bug biting again I decided a couple of weeks ago to sort out the chaos of the Epée collection and do some cleaning and polishing where needed.
There had always been a new sabre in the way and the Epée part of my little collection was gathering dust waiting for an overhaul and the making of missing scabbards, as I, in an overly optimistic mood, had bought a large collection of period fittings to that end. Needless to say that none of the fittings, thus far at least, ,,fit''. C'est la vie.
Expect more from the Epée front in the near future.
Example 1.
Regulation M1767 Infantry Officers hilted sword. Lower ranks.
Silver plated brass regulation hilt ,,a la mousquetaire''.
I bought this one just 2 weeks ago as it is a nice addition and is complementing the other two.
The, formerly slimy dark brown grey, colichemarde blade got a nice polish, but it still shows the tell tale signs of long neglect. The black patina covered spots sadly proved to go too deep to remove, so there was no other choice left than to polish right over them. There is often a spot here and there where one can see remnants of the old polish under the grime. It is my aim to polish the blades to the degree of the original polish and not to clear out any and all little pits and spots. Old but well maintained is the look I am going for.
No extras but as close to how it looked in its day as possible without destroying the ,,antique'' look.
So, no turning a poor old biddy into a Cold Steel.
This one for sure does look ,,antique'', but due to the restoration of the high polish it once had the evidence of sad neglect doesn't hurt my poor eyes anymore.
The colichemarde blade here is, in contrast to the much lighter (civilian mounted) one Matt Easton reviews (see the notes), not hollow ground but of a lozenge shape, making for a solid steel bar with 6 x 10mm wide sides. Not that the hollow ground colichemarde blades were any less effective and strong.
I'd say both versions were quite capable of parrying/deflecting bayonet attacks and the like. Also, my colichemarde is honed razor sharp from the tip down including the forte. The b!tch bit me twice during the polish already. I think the former owner knew what he was doing when he had this done.
This colichemarde blade has an interesting etch on the front and back. This starts with a large decorative scroll element with what could be a Fleur de Lys under an even larger panel in which a rather jolly, bold and hat less little man is depicted, walking down a dirt road or path. There is a bush in the fore ground. The little man carries a knapsack over his shoulder and has a back pack. It seems like he is whistling, as he has bulging cheeks and he is looking straight at us and greets us with his right hand. Above the panel a wind rose is etched, like we see on old maps.
Is this a representation of men's walk through life?
It seems strange that the little guy doesn't wear a hat at a period where a hat was a standard item of ones daily dress. Especially when venturing outdoors.
The sword knot is a modified and somewhat ,, antiqued '' generic Pakistan made item.
Numbers:
B. W.: 29 mm.
B. T.: 10.5 mm.
B. L.: 77.5 cm.
Weight: 545 grams.
Example 2.
Regulation M1767 Infantry Officers hilted sword. Higher ranks, Etat Major.
Gold plated hilt ,,a la mousquetaire'' with decorations on the bulge in the knuckle bow.
This one has a narrower blade than the other two, but it has still almost double the width of a generic small sword blade. The triangular blade is almost spotless now and nicely polished.
The etch here is depicting flowery scrolls on the front, with a Fleur de Lys in the middle.
On the back there are again the flowery scrolls, but now bordering a panel, in which is engraved:
,, PAR LAMOUR DE LA PATRIE ''. This motto is surrounded with vines.
Normally I would not do this but here I could not resist. I remembered I had this silver decoration in one of the spare parts boxes. It sports a grand Fleur de Lys. Just the kind of thing to soup up the generic Pakistani (but antiqued) sword knot. Kinda like ,, The House of Mouse '' but I think it works here.
Numbers:
B.W.: 21 mm.
B.T.: 9 mm.
B.L.: 81 cm.
Weight: 438 grams.
Example 3.
Epée d'un fonctionnaire.
This one has a small, of typical small sword size, solid silver hilt and is an exact imitation of the much larger M1767 regulation hilts, but without the military decorations.
The shells are ,,a la Mousquetaire'' like the ones above, but here the one at the front is larger than the one at the back. According to Mr. Buigne who was kind enough to take a look at it, as I doubted the ,, Epée de Ville '' tag of the seller, this is the sword of a civilian functionary, probably close to the Army bureaucracy. Hence the reference to the M1767.
It has a formidable, relatively speaking, hollow ground triangular blade, now almost spotless and with a nice polish.
Like the colichemarde blade of No. 1 it sure looks like the blade was meant for serious business.
The etch here begins with a large and very nice entrelac under a panel with vines in it and a smaller entrelac that closes it up. Above the panel is a quite large scroll decoration. The etch is the same both on front and back of the blade.
Numbers:
B.W.: 32 mm.
B.T.: 10.5 mm.
B.L.: 80 cm.
Weight: 357 grams.
Conclusion.
I hope you get to like these brainchilds of old Louis XV as much as I do.
They still incorporate some of the character of the fighting sword of old.
A last gasp before the whole thing crashes and burns with the advent of the ,, Epée a l'Anglaise '', the Spadroon, which, attractive as it may be to us, was not a fighting sword anymore.
As he signed off on the M1767, I'd like to say ,, All hail Louis XV ''!
Cheers.
How I clean and polish a triangular, hollow ground, blade.
,,The blade got a nice polish''. That easier said than done with a triangular blade, but with the help of a couple of little blocks and a good clamp this can be done in a fairly easy way.
The trick with these triangular blades is to clamp them down so that there is just one side facing upwards and not laying them on their flat back and trying to work on them in that position. What happens with this latter is that the paper will want to slide down into the lower hollow of the blade and you are more busy correcting for this with one hand and holding the blade with the other than concentrating on the actual work. Also it will drive you bonkers as you will be hard at work with nothing more happening then you sanding a gully into the hollow.
So I thought out a little rig and it worked out beautifully. Now a hollow side of the triangle just behaves like a good old sabre fuller and you can use both hands to boot. And you can now concentrate totally on what is going on. Hallelujah!
Notes.
PDF :: Colichemarde an effective weapon? :: University of Huddersfield :: eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34663/3/UNIVERSITY%20OF%20HUDDERSFIELD%20REPOSITORY%20COPY.pdf
A Revolution in Arms: Weapons in the War for Independence - The American Revolution Institute:
www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/exhibition/a-revolution-in-arms/
Passion Militaria :: M1767 Épée à la colichemarde: www.passionmilitaria.com/t169387-epee-a-la-colichemarde
Garde du Corps. Hussars and Ulans. Uniforms of the 18th century: world4.eu/france-hussars/
Matt Easton reviews his civillian hilted colichemarde: