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Old 24th January 2021, 06:22 AM   #1
scinde
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Default Indian Army sword

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Originally Posted by kronckew
...and I have one of these: Indian 1910 IWM pattern.
Hi,

Does your sword have any markings? Do you have a photo that shows the back-piece and pommel?
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Old 24th January 2021, 05:43 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scinde
Hi,

Does your sword have any markings? Do you have a photo that shows the back-piece and pommel?
Yup, it's rather badly pitted, crusted and blackened with rust, no markings I can see, tho there may be some under the crust. The blade is also pretty much black but unmarked, and in a lot better condition, only a few small shallow pits, the black rust is mostly surface only. Sharp as heck too. Sadly, no scabbard.

Below it is a similar shot of my British 1821 pipe-back sabre for comparison. The guard and blade were plated at some point, and it's flaking off, again guard's unplated areas are black, but not pitted. The blade, not shown, also plated has dark, but no red rust, blobs all over it where the plating has come off. I've scrubbed off the loose bits, and it looks blotchy. Scabbard for it was painted silver by a previous owner over a fairly uniform rough, presumeably rusted, but intact (no holes) surface .
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Old 24th January 2021, 05:47 PM   #3
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I like the contrast with the pristine sword knot .
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Old 24th January 2021, 06:13 PM   #4
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The original 19c yellow and navy blue nylon paracord sword knot (portapee), for display and combat purposes only. There is a blue ranger bead slider knot for tightening it on the wrist just above where the knot is dropped thru the guard which was slid further up for the earlier photo.

I did unwrap it and pushed it aside for the photo above, but I did leave it on in the slot in the knuckle guard to better contrast the pommel bit.
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Old 24th January 2021, 06:24 PM   #5
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An artistic touch .
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Old 24th January 2021, 06:53 PM   #6
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For further comparison, the UK Coastal Riders (Coast Guard) sabre. In it's metal scabbard & frog, with a proper gold bullion (& naval blue accents) officer's sword knot. note the brass guard stirrup guard has 2 added bars on the right but none added on the left like the 1821 & 1910.

It gets the good knot since I was a US Coast Guard officer
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Old 24th January 2021, 08:16 PM   #7
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Default Indian Army Cavalry

Quote:
Originally Posted by kronckew
The original 19c yellow and navy blue nylon paracord sword knot (portapee), for display and combat purposes only. There is a blue ranger bead slider knot for tightening it on the wrist just above where the knot is dropped thru the guard which was slid further up for the earlier photo.

I did unwrap it and pushed it aside for the photo above, but I did leave it on in the slot in the knuckle guard to better contrast the pommel bit.
Thanks very much for posting the photos, and from what I can see, the bottom of the pommel cap where if meets the end of the grip is sloped (if looked at from the side); this feature is characteristic of other Indian Army hilts I've seen. Another feature which is not so obvious, is that the thumb-guard bar-work in the inside of the guard, is broader and flatter and not so fine as on some other light cavalry pattern hilts associated with the Indian Army.

Although difficult to tell from a photo, I assume that the blade would be around 30 1/2" inches, measured in a straight line from the face of guard at shoulder, to the tip of point; width at shoulder about 1 1/2" inches. Having said that, some blades may have lost metal owing to repeated sharpening, or even the very tip broken off the point , which I have seen on the odd example.
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