Old Sword

[Syncop8r]

My flatmate is a landscaper and found this old sword buried in a garden.
As you can see it's quite rusted, especially around the handle.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Nice! Looks like it can't quite make up its mind wether its a sword or a sabre though???

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[Grathr]

Great find!
I have no idea what it is though.   A cavalry sword maybe?


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[Chako]

No idea what it is either. Nothing that appears all that common on the British Comonwealth side of things anyways...as far as I can tell. 

[SAK Guy]

Looks like a 19th Cent cavalry sabre to me......

[Zed]

Looks like a cavalry sword of sorts too me too,bet tonys  over that rust  ,great find 

[greenbear]

Looks like a 19th Cent cavalry sabre to me......

Me too - late 19th Century

[Etherealicer]

Not that I'm an expert or anything but...

It's not curved enough to be a cavalry saber... my best bet would be German Artillery Saber somewhere around 1850 (or a replica there-off).



See on The Prussian Artillery sabre (Just search for "The Prussian Artillery sabre"). Still more curved than your version, but similar hilt. Maybe yours is even a further evolution.

[Etherealicer]

What strikes me as a bit odd, is that almost straight handle... Maybe if you clean it up a bit, there will markings on the blade that tell us more.

[Noa Isumi]

Something like US light Cavalry from 1860-1880 would have not had as curved a blade as the Polish WZ pictured above.
Also the broken stub on the hilt suggests the same sort of sweeping half basket.
So I would suggest looking to what would have been regionally available of a similar pattern.

And yes both the US Marines and Calvary were traipsing around the South pacific through out the 1880-1910 what with the Chinese trade disputes/Opium War, and the Spanish American War and our conflict with the Moros in the Philippines.
But I am not an expert in either of these or have any idea how one would end up in NewZeland so I would doubt it to be one of ours unless traded around a few times.

Top sword US Light Cav



Usually Artillery Swords are short stubby affairs descended from a Roman short sword or medieval Falchion and maintain similar sizes and contours of their ancient cousins. This is to facilitate their use as tools for building emplacements while reducing the chance of getting hung up on the equipment.

[Noa Isumi]

Sorry should have read the caption of that Prussian Artilery Sabre, it looks nothing like a Polish WZ Sabre but rather the the older Hussar

1934 marked WZ(year)


 p1796 officers



again sorry bout that. So many swords, So little time.

[jerseydevil]

Cavalry sabers aren't always curved.  There was an ongoing debate as to what was more effective, slashing or thrusting.  The final US and Commonwealth sabers were thrusting weapons.  I have a feeling what you have there is a British Pattern 1908.....

[jerseydevil]

Never mind, hilt's wrong.

[Noa Isumi]

They were also often personal purchases representative of officers comission and re-hilted with each promotion. This would cause a good bit of variation
This was common till ww1 and can even be seen in ww2 for dress uniform accessories.

Most things got standardized in the mid 1800's but variants still pop up.

[Etherealicer]

Cavalry sabers aren't always curved.  There was an ongoing debate as to what was more effective, slashing or thrusting.  The final US and Commonwealth sabers were thrusting weapons.  I have a feeling what you have there is a British Pattern 1908.....

Agreed, and this is way out of my era (medieval guy here), but shouldn't a thrusting saber have a more curved handle? Or is this what you were referring to with

Never mind, hilt's wrong.

[Syncop8r]

He thought it may be something like this Leech & Rigdon Foot Officer's Sword, particularly with regard to the shape of the blade: http://www.myarmoury.com/review_ws_cfo.html

I just had a look tonight and think it's closer to this British 1853 Pattern Light Cavalry Sabre, except the handle is in a straight line with the blade: http://www.militaryheritage.com/images/swords/1853%20sword%201.JPG
But the basket(?) bits around the handle seem to be in the right places.

[pfrsantos]

Maybe just a poorly made replica, buried for a dozen years. Nobody looked for it because it was worthless so it just sit there and rusted...

OR

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[Syncop8r]

Yeah... he's convinced it's from the American Civil War. I don't see why it would be here if it was - much more likely to be British if it is authentic.
The blade and handle are one piece which is not the case in many replicas apparently.

By the way, I really think it looks like that British one I linked - I was wrong about the handle being straight.