Need help ID'ing this sword quick!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Hi gang,

I have an appointment to see this sword tomorrow morning. I'm considering it for Hubby's birthday gift. It is being sold buy a guy who found it in his basement. He inherited the house from his mother who is British. He knows nothing about swords and has it incorrectly listed as a British naval cutlass, which it is definitely not. But I am not sure exactly what it is and would like to ID it if possible before going to see it. The seller says the blade is unmarked, which is going to make this difficult. It probably is marked, but sometimes the markings can be hard to see.

I sent it to a friend who is a sword collector who was also not able to ID it, but said it was a good buy. So l'll start the clock and let's see if we can ID this before my appointment at 11am tomorrow morning! Ready... Set... GO!!

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/atq/1684067184.html

[hosman321]

Man, it's so hard to tell by the crappy CL pics. Did he (or can he) send pics through email to get a little bit better detail?

[D&b antiques]

It looks like a british naval sword. they average $350.00 Dollars if it was trade marked all the better. I would try to jew them down. maybe the Texas Badger will pop in and take a look.

[talesofthesevenseas]

No, these are the only photos.

[talesofthesevenseas]

This British model 1751 infantry sword looks pretty darn close with respect to the hilt. Same pommel and guard design. The grip on the Craigslist sword is wire wrapped and the blade is lighter/straighter.

http://www.sailorinsaddle.com/product.aspx?id=1061

[talesofthesevenseas]

I got the following reply from my sword collector friend:

"Most of my reference books make it an English short saber at 38 1/2 inches. Makers marks would tell the final truth, as otherwise, it's more close to German/ French from 1770>.....english short saber that it's closest to is from 1740- 1760.. Mark Cloke has a site, 'old swords' that has some good links to makers marks..."

Looks like we are going to pass on this. Hubby wasn't as into it as I thought he would be. His interests really lie in British Naval history, in Lord Nelson's era. Rev War history had never been of particular interest to him. Too bad, looks to be a nice one.

[regularjoe2]

Too bad about that , but you'll find the thing you're supposed to , I bet .


Just don't throw him in the scuppers with a hosepipe on him !

[talesofthesevenseas]

LOL good idea RegularJoe2! I do like the mug!! In the past I've given him a couple of Nelson items that he really liked, old centennial medalettes containing copper from the HMS Victory, one large shadowboxed unaltered piece of the copper sheeting from Victory's hull, and an engraved platter made from copper from the HMS Foudroyant. He loved all of those. His birthday isn't until September so I have lots of time to look and if I'm not sure of something, I always check with him, like I did in this case before buying it. But I usually start looking way ahead of time and I've done pretty well so far. I was surprised a British Rev War sword didn't do it for him.