Questions about some antique swords

[AndOpd]

Hello!

I have two old swords which I got from my grandfather. I have absolutely no knowledge about antiques and especially not swords. Unfortunately I didn't get any information about them from my grandfather while he still was alive. I assume that some of you guys might know more about it. I was wondering if they are worth anything and if so, how much? Probably hard to say, but I thought that it would be a good start to ask here.      


Sword 1:


Sword 2:


More pictures of both:
http://s1134.photobucket.com/albums/m605/AndOpd/?start=all

What do you think?

Thanks in advance!

[jondar]

From what I can tell from the photo the #1 sword appears to be a rapier, a long thin narrow blade designed to penetrate chinks in armor and mostly associated with the Three Musketeers crowd.  Could you list any markings which may be on it, even very small ones.  If it is an original blade from that period it most certainly would have a good value, but bear in mind that reproductions abound. I bought two Ames Model 1860 Cavalry sabers from an ad in a military publication.  They turned out to be Model 1840 sabers and reproductions at that.

#2 blade I can't get enough detail to tell anything.  Maybe list markings and a clearer picture would help.

[jondar]

I just noticed your additional photos (duh!!) and the rapier blade does appear very old.  I would certainly have it examined by someone competent on antique blades. You might go into Ebay and search for antique rapiers and see what is available and what they sold for.

The other sword, after looking at the pictures, could be an old "hunting sword" maybe German. Lots of these were imported thru the years.

[AndOpd]

There are some markings on the #1 sword:

1st marking:


It's hard to tell from the picture, but it says "ICHANNIS". I tried to google it and there were several results, but none of them made any sense to me.   

2nd marking:


I don't know this marking either, but it's easy to se the shape of it so if someone knows this marking from anywhere, please reply.

3rd marking:


It's hard to tell from the angle on the picture, but it says 87 N. I don't know what that means, but maybe it makes sense to someone else.

With you now mentioning that it might be German, it makes more sense to me. As I live in Norway, there were a lot of Germans here during the 2nd World War. They may have brought several of these swords into Norway during the war. When the Germans left Norway maybe they left behind some of them. Maybe my grandfather or his father found these swords or something like that. While my grandfather still was alive he had several of them, of which he two to me and the others to my sister and my cousin.

[jondar]

Are you close to any museums in your area?  When I bought the two cavalry sabers and suspected they may be repros, I called the Kansas State Historical Society which was within driving distance and the curator made an appointment for me to come in.  He had seven or eight genuine cavalry sabers set out on a table and we compared them to my swords and it soon showed mine were fakes. IIRC the French made a lot of rapiers and a lot of duels were fought with them.  The Germans used sabers for their dueling sport.  I think the name shown could be the maker and the logo may be the trademark. Anyway a lot of work went into it.  On the American sabers I saw, the maker's name (in this case Ames) was on the ricasso of the blade along with the year it was made.  I hope you find good news on yours.

[JoshandLila]

Sword # 2 is either a saber or a scimitar, heres one alot like it, if the handle is original it looks alot like Arabian style.. I love sword number one! The symbol is probably the sword-smiths signature!! alot of blade-smiths used a symbol, alot still do
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-1806-NAPOLEONIC-FRENCH-FUSILIR-INFANTRY-HANGER-SABER-BRIQUET-SWORD-/140641577889?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20bee42ba1

hope this helps