French M1845/55 Infantry Officer's Sword
Curved blade fullered a la Montmorency (one broad fuller and one narrow fuller running close to the spine) with spear point. Brass hilt with forward-curving quillon, knucklebow with slit for a portepee, the outer side of the guard pierced with floral and foliate designs. Dark brown leather washer. Grip of spiral ribbed horn bound with wire. Stepped oval pommel cap with more foliate decoration. Steel scabbard with one hanging ring.
The spine of the blade is stamped at the shoulder with what I presume is a maker’s mark, consisting of a rapier hilt with letters on either side: the first letter is B and the second letter is only partly visible because the stamp is off-centre, but might be D.
The hilt is stamped on its inside edge with the serial number ‘18471’. The band of the scabbard is also stamped on one side with ‘18471’ indicating that the two are an original pair. The throat end of the scabbard is stamped with two poinçons (punch marks) next to the rivet which holds in the mouth piece. These are quite faint, probably due to past repolishing of the scabbard.
The blade is bright and clean with only a few tiny spots of patination. It is unsharpened with a couple of small nicks (dents) to the edge. The sword is firm in the hand with no movement to any parts. The brass hilt has a moderate patina with a few small dents. One chip to the horn grip on a rib and a tiny surface-level crack between the last wire loop (near where it is secured into the grip) and the hilt. The wire binding of the grip is all present and tight with no movement. The scabbard is clean, evidently repolished, with some very light speckled patination and a few spots of darker patination on and near the chape. A few very small and shallow dents to the scabbard body, none of which interfere with sheathing and drawing.
