I said I had sold stuff to afford a thing, well here is the thing.
Well here is the thing.
An original 1796 Heavy cavalry sword, very likely used by the 3rd dragoons in Spain, it has been sharpened repeatedly, it had typical knicks and damage from use. The scabbard has markings for F troop 3rd dragoons.
The blade is 88cm and some mm, total weight is 1079g with a balance at 16cm from the guard. It's a really nice good sword. feels great in the hand, far more nimble than what some claim. though there are variations, so some individual swords might be a little more unwieldy.
My 3rd dragoons behind their real sword.
My 1796 HC above my 1796 infantry officer sword. There is about 400g difference between them
My new original next to my 1796 HC trainer. The trainer is based on the field modified ones, with a spear point. So I was expecting the original to be a bit more clunky, But even if the original is 108g heavier I honestly can't feel a difference in my hand when I go through the various drills.
So yeah, it's been a few exciting weeks, trying to sell enough to afford it, getting it shipped, I needed insurance so that took a few days. Then it had to go through customs, luckily antiquities are different from regular goods, so I only paid about £160 in VAT instead of the £650 I would have had to pay if antiques used the same VAT as regular imports.
4 comments:
Wow, that is a really incredible artifact! Are you going to use it for re-enactment?
No, I doubt I'll ever reenact, I'll have it on my wall, and take it out for some HEAM training now and then.
I have several pieces of heavy weaponry hanging on my walls at home. I get teased about being ready for the zombie apocalypse, but, hey, I'm ready. They are all replicas of varying degrees of quality. The two fantasy swords, Sting and Andruil, are from the licensed LOTR company, so they are very nice. But my favorite is a replica of the 1813 Cuirassier straight sword. It's a beast. https://www.militaryheritage.com/swords1.htm
The real cuirassier sword is a beast, the replicas double so.
I havn't handled the real one, but from what I understand from those that has handled the French cuirassier sword and the British one, the British one is far better in the hand, if you are in a hand to hand combat, it's the British one you'd want, the Cuirassier sword is more like a lance with a sword grip.
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