No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
TWO FRENCH NAVAL SWORDS

THE FIRST LATE 18TH CENTURY EARLY 19TH CENTURY, THE SECOND 19TH CENTURY

Details
TWO FRENCH NAVAL SWORDS
The first late 18th Century early 19th Century, the second 19th Century
The first with slightly curved fullered blade, with narrow secondary fuller close to rear edge (severe pitting), brass hilt with hinged folding bar to guard, wire-wound grip of square cross-section, and plain pommel, with an incomplete black leather scabbard, retaining its brass locket with loose ring and frog-stud but lacking its lower part and chape; the second a cutlass, with wide, slightly curved fullered blade (with areas of slight pitting), bearing etched decoration including a classical figure holding a shield with the Bourbon fleurs- de-lys and inscription 'Vaincre ou Mourir', later ornate gilt-brass hilt with three-bar guard incorporating a lion subduing a dragon, wire-bound leather-covered wooden grip and ornate cast backstrap and helmet pommel, in its black leather scabbard with crude gilt-brass locket and chape, the locket without provision for ring or frog-stud (the scabbard leather shrunk)
29½in. (75cm.), and 28¾in. (73cm.) blades (2)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

A sword very similar (although not identical) to the first of these weapons is illustrated in May & Annis, Swords for Sea Service, plate 97, and stated to have been surrendered by Capitaine L' Hercule in 1798, and now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. The blade of the latter weapon is only 26in. (66cm.) long

This style of sword, with its moving-bar guard and scallop edging to the bars, bears a striking resemblance to the Austrian cavalry sword of the same era, the latter being differenced principally by having a lion's head pommel

More from ANTIQUE ARMS, ARMOUR AND MILITARIA

View All
View All