blade marking : WARtd WdCA

[asomotif]

I just bought a blade with the marking : WAR td WdCA (see picture.)

The letter type feels like early British, but hey, what do I know...
I got lost from the etno forum again.

Any input is welcome

Best regards,
Willem

[fernando]

Hi Willem,
Look here:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=warranted
Fernando

[Dmitry]

Warranted Cast Steel does sound plausible.
What's the rest of this piece look like?

[asomotif]

Thanks Fernando.

So the marking will probably stand for : Warranted Cast steel ?

And the blade might be a cutlass from just after 1800;s ?

Here some pictures of my example.

[Dmitry]

Looks like a trade blade, made for the eastern market, could be as late as the early 1900s.

[asomotif]

Hello Dmitry,

So these trade blades maintained the broad fuller ?

[Henk]

Looks like a Rudus. Blade could be from a klewang and for the purpose a reshaped tip. Nice oddity.

[Dmitry]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Hello Dmitry,

So these trade blades maintained the broad fuller ?

Hi,
In this case the shape of the blade doesn't comply with its apparent age, imho. For instance, look at the British-made blades made for the Ethiopian trade. They look like the British Napoleonic period blades, but were made well into the 1900s.

[stephen wood]

...and Mole was still producing 1796 Light Cavalry Sabres for India into the 1880's...

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by stephen wood

...and Mole was still producing 1796 Light Cavalry Sabres for India into the 1880's...

He sure did, but they were for J. Bourne & Son, Birmingham and the ones I have seen had that marking though they were produced by Mole. Wilkinson was making blades for shotels and gurades into the 1930s for Haile Selassie of Abyssinia, which were indeed of early cavalry style. Mole often contracted with Wilkinson, who absorbed the firm in the 1920s.

The Indian regiments maintained favor for the heavy blade of the M1796 light cavalry sabre, and many of these blades ended up in tulwar hilts. One of the most interesting records of the use of these M1796 sabre blades was I believe noted that the British troops in India were amazed at the effect of the swords used by Indian warriors, and horrified when they discovered thier swords carried old British light cavalry sabre blades. It was simply the way they were sharpened and kept well oiled in wooden scabbards, but the heavy blade was deadly when used correctly.