Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 26th January 2023, 08:08 PM

There can be no doubt this saber had a quite extended working life, and very hard one as can be seen by its battered character. In Mexico, as noted,many regions are of course quite rural, and poor. A weapon, despite condition, would be used as required. While this one clearly had issuance of some type at some point early in its life, but later possibly picked up and 'reserviced'.

At this point, perhaps whoever worked on this added the centavo coin, which in some sense may have been perceived as a lucky charm. The centavos which began being minted in the '2nd Mexican Empire' 1863-1867, were with one (copper) and 5,10,50 in silver. By the time of the Mexican Revolution the currency issues with paper money being almost worthless.
With coinage, the biggest problem was the coins being melted for the silver, and often the bullion being stolen etc. before making it to the mints. The circumstances were volatile to say the least.

It would be hard to estimate the date range of this sword by the coin as it is clear this was added at some point when the sword was worked on. Still, its history reflects the very rugged and intriguing history of Mexico.

Thanks very much Keith and Fernando for the input.

26th January 2023, 08:08 PM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,801	There can be no doubt this saber had a quite extended working life, and very hard one as can be seen by its battered character. In Mexico, as noted,many regions are of course quite rural, and poor. A weapon, despite condition, would be used as required. While this one clearly had issuance of some type at some point early in its life, but later possibly picked up and 'reserviced'. At this point, perhaps whoever worked on this added the centavo coin, which in some sense may have been perceived as a lucky charm. The centavos which began being minted in the '2nd Mexican Empire' 1863-1867, were with one (copper) and 5,10,50 in silver. By the time of the Mexican Revolution the currency issues with paper money being almost worthless. With coinage, the biggest problem was the coins being melted for the silver, and often the bullion being stolen etc. before making it to the mints. The circumstances were volatile to say the least. It would be hard to estimate the date range of this sword by the coin as it is clear this was added at some point when the sword was worked on. Still, its history reflects the very rugged and intriguing history of Mexico. Thanks very much Keith and Fernando for the input.