Michel, your query has continued to intrigue me, and I recall these discussions from last summer which it seems left more questions than real answers on these curious stamped words on blades.
I think the conundrum with your sabre is centered primarily on why a British M1796 light cavalry sabre would carry an abbreviated stamp for warranted cast steel in an unusual place on the blade more characteristic of a much later period. This pattern sword was produced in considerable quantity and was of course one of the first officially recognized British regulation pattern swords from 1796 until its replacement in 1821 with a new pattern.
These were produced by various makers whose blades were typically stamped on the blade spine near the hilt. The 'ears' on the grips identify this as a troopers sword. In the earlier years of producing these swords, the term 'warranted' did occur on a number of sword blades, particularly those by Thomas Gill, due to disputes concerning quality of British blades vs. German.
The term 'cast steel' however seem more aligned with 'Industrial' period of the second half of the 19th century, and with tools, implements, and knives and axes often exported from England. These indeed were mostly Sheffield situated.
The sword itself seems to have a rather 'galvanized' appearance by the patches of discoloration in the metal, this process of metal 'protection' also more in line with these later industrial periods in England. The darkened staining resembles the residue from heavy petroleum jelly type material often used to preserve weapons in armouries and storage in the 20th century.
The question then is why would a sword apparantly from obsolete stores of these bolder British sabres receive these later type metal treatments (if I am correct in assuming from pictures) as well as having these latter use terms cold stamped into the blade. We know that the M1796 type sabres were much favored by Indian cavalry units in the latter 19th century. The M1796 blades were actually produced by Mole, Wilkinson and contracts I have seen to J.Bourne & Sons in around the 1880s forward. These were typically name stamped in much the same manner as the M1796 stamps on the original types.
Why then would industrial form stamping etc. occur on an obsolete but still favored type sword destined for India if we know that regular stamping of traditional practice was used on known examples of this category? Further, why the cast steel term associated with tools and not as far as I know on edged weapon blades?
As I have earlier mentioned, the only places I have seen this type of wording and stamping seem to return ostensibly to the 'surplus' industry of Bannerman and others from the post Civil War period into the 20th century. While Bannerman himself virtually created the trends toward 'weapons collecting' , the volume of arms and materials he had amassed was substantial enough to actually provide ersatz supply for actual military requirements. Perhaps this vintage British sabre somehow entered this realm of activity, we do know that numbers of British swords were brought into the U.S. for the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and this might well have been among these eclectic stockpiles. Huge volumes of swords both Union and Confederate were acquired by Bannerman after the war.
Those are my thoughts and I hope to hear other views.
Richard Dellar, are you there!!! ?
All best regards,
Jim
|