Brazilian c1890 Artillery Trooper’s Sword by Alex Coppel
Curved single-fullered spear-pointed sabre blade, steel bowl hilt, pressed black leather grips secured to the exposed full-width tang with five steel rivets, steel pommel, black leather washer. Steel scabbard with singe fixed hanging ring and frog loop.
The blade is stamped on one side with the maker’s mark ‘Alex Coppel Solingen’, with that firm’s emblem of a set of weighing scales. The hilt is stamped with ‘E.U.B.’ which stands for ‘Estados Unidos do Brasil’ (United States of Brazil), with crossed cannons below. The spine of the blade and chape piece of the scabbard are stamped with the proof mark ‘M’. The pommel is stamped with ‘047’, probably a rack number. The tang is stamped with ‘26’.
These swords were produced on contract for the First Brazilian Republic by manufacturers in Solingen, Germany, but their design appears to have been inspired by British swords, particularly the 1821 Heavy and 1853 Universal pattern cavalry trooper’s swords.
After Emperor Pedro II was deposed in a military coup in 1889 the First Brazilian Republic was established, which was in practice an oligarchy dominated by senior Army officers. The new government faced multiple rebellions and mutinies yet remained dependent on imported arms, a situation which only began to change with extensive efforts to grow its own arsenals and supporting industries in the early 20th century. Homegrown arms were not sufficient to maintain internal power, however, the Republic falling to a revolution in 1930 bringing about the Second Republic under Getúlio Vargas.
The blade has patches of light pitting but is overall bright. The hilt has been deeply blued and retains almost all of this original finish. The grips have some rubbing wear and one dent to the left side grip scale. The scabbard is similarly bright, but with some patches of pitting and a few small dents.
