[Victrix]

This Christmas I was blessed with a Swedish m/1791 hussar sabre. It’s light, elegant, and handles swiftly. The grip is very much in Prussian style with an angular iron knuckle bow although it retains the Hungarian style langets and almond shaped flat pommel. It also has the back strap and leather covered cord grip.

The blade is curved and single edged with a false edge near the tip. There’s a deep fuller running along the back of the blade, with a shallow fuller along the centre. A curious detail is that the tip has been filed into a spear shape (for stabbing purposes?) with a prominent barb behind a hint of a smaller barb. The front barb looks like it’s just a decoration.

There’s a very similar Swedish m/1759 husar sabre which is virtually identical with the only differences that it’s langets end squarely, and the back strap is fastened with a screw instead of a bolt.

Swedish hussar regiments were formed in the Swedish colony in Pomerania (Prussia) during the Pomeranian war 1757-1762. They were initially formed with Prussian locals using Prussian hussar style equipment. The famous Prussian General von Blücher originally served with the Swedish hussars. The blade doesn’t carry the Swedish P inspection stamp so I believe the sword was made in Prussia/Germany. The barb feature seems primarily Germanic and I never saw it in Sweden before.