French blades on Saharan Edged Weapons

Jim McDougall · 25th August 2022, 07:04 PM

Excellent evidence that the convention of marking the Legion's weapons did indeed exist, as per this obviously far later example than the period we are considering. Thank you for continuing the search!!

It does seem that the presumption has typically been that the military would mark their weapons, especially as most arms for rank and file are issued. Therefore in order to establish ownership and regulate issuance and inventory, such numbered markings would be necessary.

However in many conditions it seems there were cases were arms of certain types were not marked. In the case of the East India Company for example, I was told that the swords/hangers to the rank and file were never marked (officers of course had private purchase arms).
However, firearms were invariably marked with the EIC balemark and other markings. This apparently extended to bayonets which also had the EIC balemark as considered part of the firearms scope.

Clearly an analogy, it simply illustrates how circumstances might alter these well established conventions. The EIC was a privately held company, not a standing army of the government.
The Foreign Legion was a volunteer regiment basically although not directly attached to the French army, it was in degree under French government auspices.

25th August 2022, 07:04 PM	#6
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,282	Excellent evidence that the convention of marking the Legion's weapons did indeed exist, as per this obviously far later example than the period we are considering. Thank you for continuing the search!! It does seem that the presumption has typically been that the military would mark their weapons, especially as most arms for rank and file are issued. Therefore in order to establish ownership and regulate issuance and inventory, such numbered markings would be necessary. However in many conditions it seems there were cases were arms of certain types were not marked. In the case of the East India Company for example, I was told that the swords/hangers to the rank and file were never marked (officers of course had private purchase arms). However, firearms were invariably marked with the EIC balemark and other markings. This apparently extended to bayonets which also had the EIC balemark as considered part of the firearms scope. Clearly an analogy, it simply illustrates how circumstances might alter these well established conventions. The EIC was a privately held company, not a standing army of the government. The Foreign Legion was a volunteer regiment basically although not directly attached to the French army, it was in degree under French government auspices.