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Title Cavalry officer's walking out sword, gilt-mounted
Nationality British
Period c 1785
Sold

This rare sword would have been carried as a dress item by a cavalry officer from the mid 1780s to the early 1790s. There is a portrait recorded by Romney, painted in 1780, of one Robert Shore Milnes of the Royal Horse Guards, wearing the dismounted service uniform and such a sword.

There is a steel-mounted with ebony grip example of one of these in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. The sword appears in Nick Norman's preparatory catalogue of the cavalry swords in that collection (London Arms & Armour Society Journal, Vol IX, No 6, Dec 1979. He seems to have been the only author to have picked up that this is specifically a cavalry walking out sword, rather than infantry, engineers, etc. But then he was a great one for tying in portraits showing specific types of swords.

The grip is ebony with a gilt wire binding, most of which is now missing. The ears of the hilt have been removed on both sides, but the blade does not appear to have been replaced, other than possibly in its working life. This particular blade is a 33" broadsword pattern of the type normally associated with the boat shell hilt of the 1790s, while these swords were normally mounted with a backsword blade like a 1796 pattern infantry officer's sword (see the ivory-mounted one also on my site).

Sadly, only traces of the original gilding remain, visible clearly round the pommel button. The hilt itself would appear to be made of gilding metal of some sort.

If you want to comment on this item—re quality, age, etc—please email me.


[Edged Weapons : Swords : British : 18th Century]

testimonials

I received the item today, you had packed it well and there were no problems with customs. Overall I was happy with it although the blade was a little bit worse than I had imagined, however thank you for your efforts.

P P, Australia, 09.03.2011

My bayonet arrived this morning, super fast delivery! It's an excellent bayonet and I'm very pleased with it!!

S A, UK, 12.12.2007

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