George III Dragon-Head Spadroon

[Jerseyman]

Military swords are not my area of collecting, but occasionally one drifts into my collection. The dealer listed this as a George III spadroon. It's certainly a spadroon, and I would say 18C but beyond that I don't have the knowledge base to place this accurately.

A shagreen hilt with wire wrap - the wire I would say is a replacement. It looks like the bullion wire used to make military uniform insignia, so I would posit not original. The single-edge blade is in decent condition and solid to the hilt. The pommel shows a very pleasing horizontal ripple lamination - almost certainly exposed due to earlier corrosion I imagine - my bad photos really don't do this sword justice.

Most interestingly the end of the knucklebow, just where it seats into the pommel, (very similar to small sword knucklebows) has been engraved as a dragon head, or perhaps something else, but certainly zoomorphised. I'd be grateful for any information the more knowledgeable can offer.


Dimensions:

Length 92cm
Blade length 77.5cm
Blade width 2.5cm
Spine 0.6cm
Hilt 14.5cm

[werecow]

Just a thought... If it's George III, could it be a St George and the dragon reference? i.e.

[Jim McDougall]

Jerseyman, I am surprised you are not a specialized collector of military swords as you have an astute awareness of the particulars and clearly a discerning eye. This is one of the most attractive and intriguing examples of the British 'spadroon' that I have seen!
The spadroon term seems to have come into British parlance in 18th century with first recorded usage with Donald McBane (1728) who was a writer on fencing and swordsmanship.The term itself refers to a light single edged sword and is often most associated with the five ball hilt pattern (1786 regulations).

Your example seems to be almost certainly of the late 18th into early 19th century and Georgian. One of the most unusual elements is the dragon like terminal on the knuckle bow which I think must relate to the makara head of the East Indies weapon motifs which suggests a possible East India Company possibility. British officers were highly attracted to exotic motifs from various colonial regions and factored these into the swords they commissioned.

The ray skin grip material was also favored in this convention ( often known by the earlier term 'shagreen' ) and found use on many British officers swords of this period. While officers were of course given carte blanche on the swords they commissioned, the alignment with uniform fashion was still somewhat integral to the designs, as in the 1786 regulations which stipulated,' the guard should match the color of the buttons'. Obviously this would apply to the metal color silver or gold, however I mention it only for the note on the braiding on your example which is of the bullion type used on uniforms (but also on sword knots).

The ray skin was as noted a popular material for grips, to the point that often a more synthetic form using horse skin with pressure embossed seeds that was popularized in France called 'galuchat' . French fashion was highly key to British interest but this material on yours seems indeed ray skin.

Probably TMI, but wanted to add whatever perspective I could as this is a most handsome example which serves well for those of us who are in the study of the fascinating British military swords of this period.
Thank you so much for sharing it here!

[Akanthus]

Here another example of a Dragon ( Monster) head from an english? hanger.I would date it around 1700.Certainly it has a hunting sword or short side arm background.The Dragon is a symbol for strength,might and wisdom in the time of baroque.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by werecow

Just a thought... If it's George III, could it be a St George and the dragon reference? i.e.

We crossed posts, and that is an interesting idea I had not thought of. The British did have strong inclinations to heraldic and often Masonic symbolism in motifs and designs, which is an area not often touched on in most published material as it is obviously quite speculative. That being the case, all suggestions are entirely viable as is this.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Akanthus

Here another example of a Dragon ( Monster) head from an english? hanger.I would date it around 1700.Certainly it has a hunting sword or short side arm background.The Dragon is a symbol for strength,might and wisdom in the time of baroque.

Picture please

[Akanthus]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Picture please

Had problems with the pictures and was not quick enough

[Richard G]

"Here another example of a Dragon ( Monster) head from an english? hanger.I would date it around 1700.Certainly it has a hunting sword or short side arm background.The Dragon is a symbol for strength,might and wisdom in the time of baroque."

If it's a hunting hangar, which it is, it could easily be the head of a hunting hound.
Best wishes
Richard

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Akanthus

Had problems with the pictures and was not quick enough

thank you! OUTSTANDING example and remarkably similar.

[Radboud]

What a lovely sword Jerseyman, I agree with you that it’s 18th Century my vote would be for the mid 1700s. It might be early 19th Century, but going by the style of the hilt I personally doubt it, typically at the late stage of the century we see the urn and cushion pommels.

To my eye the hilt on your sword looks like a cross between a spadroon and smallsword with that pommel. Does the blade have any decorations? There is always the possibility that it belonged to a gentleman than a military officer.

[M ELEY]

Hello, sorry to come in late on this one. What a great spadroon! Very nice form! Most of the others have filled in a lot of the blanks already (obviously a spadroon, mid to late 18th), but I was wondering if there is any chance this might not be an English example, but Dutch?

The Dutch used spadroons like the English, even supplying their officers with models in the early 19th. The shagreen/rayskin wrapped hilt were also seen in the Dutch market and when you consider the dragon motiff, there could be a possile Ceylonese connection, as the Dutch were much taken by the 'oriental styling' (see European Swords/Anthony North, pg 30, specifically example 63 with a dragon motiff to the knuckle bow nearest the grip end). Just guessing here, so no shade if I'm off base!

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Hello, sorry to come in late on this one. What a great spadroon! Very nice form! Most of the others have filled in a lot of the blanks already (obviously a spadroon, mid to late 18th), but I was wondering if there is any chance this might not be an English example, but Dutch?

The Dutch used spadroons like the English, even supplying their officers with models in the early 19th. The shagreen/rayskin wrapped hilt were also seen in the Dutch market and when you consider the dragon motiff, there could be a possile Ceylonese connection, as the Dutch were much taken by the 'oriental styling' (see European Swords/Anthony North, pg 30, specifically example 63 with a dragon motiff to the knuckle bow nearest the grip end). Just guessing here, so no shade if I'm off base!

m

Excellent suggestion Capn!!!
The Dutch and English examples in swords ran remarkably close, as per Aylward (1945) with the connections via monarchy, trade etc. As you note, those 'monster' heads were of course well known in England, and the English were well acquainted with the Sinhalese kastane which of course carried these makara and yali zoomorphics.

[Jerseyman]

Thank you everyone for the thought-provoking information and opinions. The possible Dutch angle hadn't occurred to me and is something I'll look into with interest. I think there may well be something in the civilian gentleman angle. I do have smallswords with similar pommels. I don't have this spadroon to hand but as I remember there are no engravings on the blade. I'll have to dig into Aylward and see what correlations I can find.

[Hotspur]

My feelings are that the sword is of the 1755><1770 range and the rayskin original, probably with a silver or silver wash copper tape (with no wire) and a silver Turks head at the pommel.

Cheers
GC