First off, a Happy New Year to you and our other esteemed members.
That is a lovely sabre, and I agree with your assessment that there is a good possibility that it belonged to a Dutch officer, one that could have served in Napoleons’ Grand Army, only to end up fighting against the French when the Dutch declared independence and changed sides! However we need to keep in mind that this style was popular with officers of other nations as well.
That said, I have a very similar sabre that can be attributed to a Dutch cutler, so I think the odds are very good that yours is Dutch from the time of the Kingdom of Holland and after.
The scabbard on my sword is likely a replacement from a French Hussar sabre.
The cutler; Rhys, the two dots over the Y are typical Dutch spelling of ij.
On the maker, I suspect that the S is for S & K of Schnitzler & Kirschbaum who were a prolific Solingen based distribution company rather than a manufacturer. This is the best information I have found online to the origins of the company, one that has a long history:
Quote:
Thank you, Chape, for your comments, and Cathlineau for confirming the earlier date.
I have known the information from S&K = Schnitzler & Kirschbaum, and like Chape I have seen the period 1811-65 for the company. However, I was a little skeptical of an early date of 1811 as I had seen S&K marked blades of apparently consular sabers. I found the following while searching for German sources online (Google translate very useful!
City of Solingen Archive:
Contains: Bd. 1, 1803-1805 notebook of the company Johann and Peter Pieper & Co., Gräfrath, of the company Schnitzler & Kirschbaum, SolingenBd. 2, 1805-1807 Brief from Abraham Schnitzler, traveler of the Schnitzler & Kirschbaum company.
Also, from a Biography of the Schnitzler family (German)
The family had lived in Gräfrath, near Solingen, since the beginning of the 17th century. Family members have served in the civil service, some as mayors. They sold forged products from Solingen as merchants. As unprivileged merchants, they were prohibited from selling swords and blades. To get around this problem, → Philipp Jacob (1759-1811) founded in 1797 → with his uncle → Wilhelm Bernhard Samuel Kirschbaum (died 1803) of the company "Schnitzler & Kirschbaum". After the death of Philipp Jacob, his eldest son → Carl Eduard (1792-1864) took over the management.
So when we see the blades marked S&K, a date prior to 1811 should be considered.
cordially
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source:
https://www-passionmilitaria-com.tra...o=ajax,elem,se