Brass hilt briquet type hanger....British cutlass?

[kronckew]

So...this brass hilted double edged recurved blade ~yataghan-ish variant qualifies.
I believe it's Prussian - possibly an experimental version.
(Sharp in both edges).

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by kronckew

So...this brass hilted double edged recurved blade ~yataghan-ish variant qualifies.
I believe it's Prussian - possibly an experimental version.
(Sharp in both edges).

Actually the example of the French hanger I posted , with the characteristic ribbed brass single piece grip in its distinct shape is the only thing termed a briquet. It was a colloquial nickname as described, and while it was first applied in French context.....it came up, probably as usual by collectors to refer to any of these swords that looked exactly like this.

The example you posted would not be deemed a briquet in normal perspective, does that make any sense? Perhaps by the very loose description of the term you could call it that, but we get into the famous name game.

[kronckew]

Hi Jim, was just pushing the boundary - I don't really think that one is a briquet. Maybe the definition should include 'post french revolutionary', 'ribbed brass grip and rounded D guard, 'short single edged hanger blade'.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Hi Jim, was just pushing the boundary - I don't really think that one is a briquet. Maybe the definition should include 'post french revolutionary', 'ribbed brass grip and rounded D guard, 'short single edged hanger blade'.

Its funny, maybe I've been in this game too long. When I first started researching this sword and of course the French ones, there was no doubt about what a briquet was. In the following decades, any discourse toward one of these brass, D guard, ribbed grip hangers regardless of what country it came from was a 'briquet'.
The term has been indelibly ingrained in the arms lexicon this many years without question.
What is odd is how long these swords have simply remained unexplained as far as their actual place among British edged weapons, and who really used them. There are many of these kinds of anomalies in the study of edged weapons that have simply remained accepted/assumed to be exactly what the old references say they were.

[kronckew]

oops- double possteded

[CutlassCollector]

Good question Wayne - I was wondering if the term included hangers.
A google search throws up a lot of these, quite a few with markings including Versailles with inspection marks dating it to 1812, Pradier from Paris and Holler and Boker from German states. Dates from around 1800 to 1830.
This confirms what Corrado has already stated.

Most of these are described as French Infantry Briquet. There are only slight variations mostly in length. So definitely not a British cutlass as Jim has already stated.

In the 18/19th century brass was cheaper than steel. Large scale steel production had not yet arrived. Brass was formed and moulded at lower temperatures and was easy to work with. Castings could be made cheaply. The briquet looks to have a grip and guard all in one piece so cheap to manufacture in quantity. A cheap way of arming thousands of infantry or militia.

The disadvantage of brass is it requires to be thicker and therefore heavier to be as strong as the equivalent in steel guards, which does not make for a well balanced sword.

Sometimes private purchase British cutlasses are seen with brass guards and or grips. Ship owners saving pennies rather than just having nice looking cutlasses!
CC

[corrado26]

For those who want to have some more infos on the theme "Briquet", there has been a wonderful catalogue of an exhibition with lots of such sabres in 2008