French M1816 Artillery Sidearm with Naval Marking
Leaf-shaped blade with two short, narrow fullers and single long fuller, solid brass hilt, brass grip cast with fishscale texture and three steel rivets, oval brass pommel. No scabbard. Blade 19 inches in length, the sword 25 inches overall.
The blade is stamped on one side with ‘Manceaux’, a sword manufacturer based in Paris on the Rue Lenoir Honore, and on the other side with a proof mark ‘B’. The hilt is stamped on one side with an anchor and on the other side with the serial number ‘1510’. The anchor mark suggests naval usage of what was originally designed to be an artilleryman’s sidearm.
Sidearms with the form of a neoclassical ‘gladius’ appear to have originated with the French 1771 ‘Eagle Head’ Artillery sword. A series of very similar-looking short swords were subsequently designed, including the French 1816 & 1831 Artillery models, the US Model 1832 Foot Artillery, the Swiss 1842 Pioneer’s, the Russian 1848 Pioneer’s and the British 1855 Land Transport. They were simple and robust but not particularly useful for combat (the gladius having become obsolete for good reasons) so remained either ceremonial items or in the role of a machete for various field tasks such as clearing brush.
The blade has areas of light patination and scattered light pitting. The hilt is quite bright and has some small dents to raised edges. The rivets have a dark patina.
