Latest Mystery Sword

[sabertasche]

Wow, guys, I think I've found a great forum

The hallmarks are clearest on the hilt of the sabre, a circle, bisected. the lower half divided into 2 equal portions. The top segment has a 13 in it. Above this mark is a "A". The left side of the mark is a 1 above a 4. On the right side of the mark is a 8 above a 0 - 1840?. Directly above this hallmark is a M&K.

The engraving appears to be scribed. There doesn't appear to be any detail in the flags except that they appear as swallow-tailed.

So far I've oiled the blade as there was a patch of active rust near the tip. I took off the blue scabbard fabric as it was held on with common office tape. As I mentioned there was pieces of red canvas like material under the mounts which I assume was the original covering. I plan to reglue and cover the scabbard and make it complete and clean again.

The sword mounts, I've sprayed with Windex glass cleaner. This has a light solvent which cuts through dirt, grime and nicotine. Windex also has a very small amount of ammonia in it which cleans the crud off the gilding without stripping the gilt off the silver.

I'm using a soft tooth brush to gently scrub off difficult areas. I going very slow as I want to preserve as much of the enamelling as possible.

Hoepfully I haven't offended anyone with my conservation methods. The sword is FILTHY and the scabbard fabric was rotting and smelled of car urine. I've kept it - sealed in a zip-lock bag but it had to go.

I want to thank everyone for thier help in interpreting my new sword.

Cheers,

greg

[wolviex]

Originally Posted by sabertasche

The hallmarks are clearest on the hilt of the sabre, a circle, bisected. the lower half divided into 2 equal portions. The top segment has a 13 in it. Above this mark is a "A". The left side of the mark is a 1 above a 4. On the right side of the mark is a 8 above a 0 - 1840?. Directly above this hallmark is a M&K.

So as I guessed. It is probably 1840, and letter "A" means Vienna. Still don't know what M&K means

Thanks for kind words - hey I'm not inerrable! Thanks for more strictly indication on Hungary as a place of origin, while I was wander on Austro-Hungarian Empire without clear purpose

regards

[Jeff D]

Hi Greg and welcome.

Is there anyway to show the entire blade? Is it shaped like a shamshir or a British cavalry M1796 ?

All the best
Jeff

P.S. Did I meet you in W.L.?

[sabertasche]

Thanks for the welcome Jeff. I haven't had my coffee yet so I don't know where W.L. is. We may have run into each othe at the HAC shows or in Kamloops.

I just had my coffee. Is W.L. just north of 100 Mile House and just south of Quesnel? (You just know all the the Forum memebers are on Google Earth trying to figure out where W.L. is ). If we're on the same page, yes, we've met

I got promoted out of that territory shortly after our meeting and was unable to followup our initial meet.

Looks like your interests have expanded beyond just Brit Cavalry like mine.

Greg

[Jeff D]

Originally Posted by sabertasche

Thanks for the welcome Jeff. I haven't had my coffee yet so I don't know where W.L. is. We may have run into each othe at the HAC shows or in Kamloops.

I just had my coffee. Is W.L. just north of 100 Mile House and just south of Quesnel? (You just know all the the Forum memebers are on Google Earth trying to figure out where W.L. is ). If we're on the same page, yes, we've met

I got promoted out of that territory shortly after our meeting and was unable to followup our initial meet.

Looks like your interests have expanded beyond just Brit Cavalry like mine.

Greg

Hi Greg,

I tried sending an e-mail but it doesn't seem to have worked. Yes we met when you came up to Williams Lake, its great to see you here. It seems we both have strayed from our original interests. I look forward to seeing more of your posts.

All the Best
Jeff