Folding Guard or Attack Hilt Sword

[Madnumforce]

It can also be described as a "petit Montmorency" (especially since it has a Montemorency blade), and can be refered to as "sabre de mineur", "sabre de Volontaire", "sabre de Garde Nationale", etc... a slew of such sabers has been produced around the revolutionary period, without any specific pattern but a limited set of types and designs, mostly easy to manufacture (the hilt of this one is just pieces of sheet metal shaped only through cutting, brazing, drilling and filing, so techniques that only require very minimal tooling and formation). Most of the time they aren't marked, and they can't be positively attributed to any specific corps or unit, unless specifically stated on the blade, and all the above mentioned terminology is basically arbitrary and purely conventional, as far as I know. Not sure about "gardes tournantes" being such a great design feature, and by 1800 the trend had significantly slowed down if not stopped, probably for a reason, but they are cool looking.

[M ELEY]

Here's one I used to own...

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19372

[fernando]

Hello Cathey. I notice that you haven't given us any feedback on comments posted so far; were they useful ?

[Les-M]

Hi Guys

My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, but I don't spend as much time on the forums as I should. Rex generally looks ever day (being retired) unlike me who is still working full time to pay for swords. Thank you so much for the information it is certainly extremely helpful.

Cheers Cathey

[Cathey]

Hi Guys

My apologies for not getting back to this post. Yes the information is definitely helpful and much appreciated. I have been experiencing difficulties posting replies, so today I am trying another browser.

Cheers Cathey

[fernando]

[Cathey]

Hi Fernando

I think I know where my posts have been going. I set up an account for a friend who struggles with computers and it looks like I have accidentally replied under his name, that will confuse people.

Anyway back to the Folding Guard. Your reference to its French name SABRE A GARDE TOURNANTE is most helpful and has provided a number of excellent examples. I was wondering if Sim Comfort is correct when he suggest that that the original attack hilt (Folding Guard) design originated from a Parisian sword maker named Coullier in the 1780s. I haven't been able to find out anything about Coullier so it is difficult to know how Sim has come up with this view.

Cheers Cathey and Rex

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Cathey

... I think I know where my posts have been going. I set up an account for a friend who struggles with computers and it looks like I have accidentally replied under his name, that will confuse people...

I thought something like that has occurred and deleted all double posts in the cutlass thread. I only left above post #6 in this thread as it contains an unrepeated paragraph referring your options on what concerns affording swords

Originally Posted by Cathey

... I was wondering if Sim Comfort is correct when he suggest that that the original attack hilt (Folding Guard) design originated from a Parisian sword maker named Coullier in the 1780s. I haven't been able to find out anything about Coullier so it is difficult to know how Sim has come up with this view.

Well, there is no smoke without fire ... but it is indeed hard to find references on Coullier. He did certainly exist as a 'fourbisseur' (french for sword smith). I have read of him HERE but i spotted no trace of his possible (probable) garde tournante invention. Madnumforce is visibly well documented on French armoury; maybe he could come up with some data...

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