Sword (Sabre)

[pcolaboy]

I'm reasonably confident this is a British Officer's sabre from 1781, but would like to get more opinions. The blade is 28" in length not including the tang (the portion of the blade going into the hilt).

This was found under a friend's 100+ year old house while digging out some plumbing last weekend. His home sits nearly on top of a British fortification that was manned during the Spanish siege of Pensacola, FL in the spring of 1781. Over the years he has also found cannon ball fragments, musketballs, buttons, etc.

As you'll see on the photos, there's still some relatively shiny portions of the blade left - being protected by the house above it for 100+ years probably had alot to do with that. There was no sign of the hilt, pommel, or guard but due to the tight confines of the crawl space, not much additional digging was done.

The blade has not been rinsed off or cleaned in anyway at this time. Trying to determine the safest course of action at this point. I'll try and take closeups of the tang area and blade back shortly but there are no discernable marks visible at this time.

Thanks for looking.




Pcola

 

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[DCMatt]

Wow! I know nothing about swords but that's a cool find. Great condition, too!

I'd take it to an expert for ID.

DCMatt

 

[pcolaboy]

Thanks Matt. A proper ID and conservation is definitely on the agenda. Just wanted to know what ballpark I'm in.

 

[jimmy uk]

im 99% sure that they never made a 1781 British Officer's sabre think you may have your dates wrong.. the design is right but im not sure why the handle is gone? does it have any makers marks on it at all?

 

[pcolaboy]

im 99% sure that they never made a 1781 British Officer's sabre think you may have your dates wrong.. the design is right but im not sure why the handle is gone? does it have any makers marks on it at all?

You could very well be correct. I based the idea of it being British based on an almost identical blade on display at a local museum and a 1795 pattern blade I found on the internet. In addition, I also narrowed down the possibilties based on the history of the site but I realize that's no guarantee. I have not yet checked on Spanish or French sabres of this period so I suppose that's a strong possibility as well since they did emerge victorious from this battle.

The visible portions of the blade (those not covered with concretion material) do not have any markings that I can tell. Do these usually have maker marks around the shoulder of the blade?

Thanks for your input Jimmy!

 

[Lucas]

Yes, that's where the mark(s) would be.