French 1822 LC Sabre - Gift sword from a Nansouty

Sometimes a sword can talk as we can see with this fine piece of History which was in fact a gift that was offered by an individual to another.

I'm not going to say much about the Mle 1822 for light cavalry officers except that the design of 2 branches guard (3 if you count the knuckle bow) and curved blade with Montmorency blade was one of the most famous and copied worldwide along with the trooper version.














For many collectors this model is one of the best swords ever made. I do not disagree.

Yet this may seem like a simple 1822 sword at first glance, except for the sharkskin grip nothing seems out of the ordinary but if you look at the blade, details start to unravel.

Engraved on both sides were the following mention:

Ulric de Nansouty a son fidèle camarade Lebrun



and on the other side:

Cross - 7 Janvier 1850



So who exactly was Ulric de Nansouty?

Born in Dijon on Sept 29 1813 and died at Ajaccio in 1850, Auguste Marie Ulric Champion Dubois de Nansouty was the son of Pierre Marie Eugene Champion de Nansouty who was a Lt-Col.

Every self-respecting fan of Napoleon's army will immediately acknowledge they were family members of Etienne Marie Champion de Nansouty who was, along with Latour-Maubourg and D'Hautpoul, one of the famous commanders of the Heavy cavalry reserves during the Napoleonic Wars and fought with much professionalism under Napoleon.





But he was not the only one of the family with a military record: his nephew, Pierre Marie Eugene Champion de Nansouty, as I said above, was an infantry Lt-Col at the same time, serving the Emperor alongside his uncle.

AND this man himself had a daughter & 4 sons who would in turn also serve in the military.

These were :

-Pierre Adrien Max (Navy Lieutenant de vaisseau);

-Marie Benigne Eugene (infantry capt);

-Charles Marie Etienne (became a brigadier-general in 1870) and

-Auguste Marie Ulric


I've been able to find records of his military service in the Journal Militaire of 1845 and Annuaire de l'état militaire of 1846.

There his name is listed as being a Marechal-de-Logis-Chef of the 13th Chasseurs and transferred (commissioned) to the 9th Hussars becoming Sub-Lieutenant in 2 May 1845. By 1850 he must have been a lieutenant or captain if he continued his service. 

Much like his brother Charles Marie Etienne, Ulric started his military career as a simple trooper and rose the ranks until becoming an officer. Must have been quite an experienced fellow!






His brother serving in 1845 as Lieutenant of Spahis:



This was the uniform of the 9th hussar officers at the time c.1845-1855 and how Ulric looked like (Images from A.Jouineau).


Ulric de Nansouty thus purchased the sword and gave it as a gift to his comrade Lebrun.

I haven't found much about this individual and the Annuaire gives many Lebrun in service at the time so it might have been a fellow officer or civilian friend.
He must have been quite the best of friends in order to receive such a nice sword!

It was made by Klingenthal as marked on the ricasso but has been customized with a sharkskin/shagreen grip which was not super common and expensive at the time.


But wait, there's more!

On the other side of the blade is the date 7 January 1850 which was the day Ulric passed away at the age of 37.
The Cross above it is the RIP symbol so I am 99.1% certain that Lebrun, saddened by the sudden death of his friend, engraved his date of death as a final way to commemorate their friendship. 

Interestingly tragic story!


All this was uncovered thanks to 2 lines engraved on a blade!

Truly a remarkable sword that I am very, very proud to own.
Fantastic handling and outstanding looks, this model has always been very appreciated by collectors and this is no exception!


StAtZ:

Sword length: 107cm / 42''

Blade: 92cm / 33''

Total: 109cm / 36 1/4''



PoB: 13.5cm / 5 1/4''



Weight of sword: 815gr / 1.9 lbs

Total weight: 1250gr / 2.12 lbs