French Model 1831 Artillery Sidearm, Dated 1839 by Chatellerault
Straight double-edged blade, unfullered with diamond profile and spear point. One-piece cast brass hilt, grip and pommel, the hilt with circular finials, the grip ribbed, the pommel oval with a domed circular tang button. Black leather scabbard with brass throat and chape pieces, the throat piece with a frog loop, the leather section with two debossed lines lengthwise on the front face, similar on the reverse face but with one line being the stitching. Blade 48.8cm in length (just over 19 1/8 inches), the sword 63.9cm (just over 25 inches) overall.
The blade is engraved on one side at the forte with the maker’s mark ‘Manufre Rale de Chatellerault’ (Manufacture Royale) and on the other side with ‘Fbre 1839’ next to which it is stamped with two French ‘poincon’ inspection stamps at the shoulder. The hilt is stamped on one side with the serial number ‘165’. The chape piece of the scabbard is faintly stamped with two poincons. The leather of the scabbard is stamped with the maker’s mark ‘GIRARD LOUIS A CHÂTELLERAULT’.
Created in 1816, the Manufacture de Chatellerault, near Poitier, was a key arms factory for the French state. In the 1830s it took over from the Maubeuge, Charleville and Klingenthal plants, all of these being considered too close to the German border to be relied upon during a war.
Girard Louis would have been a private contractor producing scabbards for the government plant, or possibly just their leather bodies.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries production of swords at Chatellerault decreased while firearms manufacture surged. Despite increasing use of machine tools and the nearing obsolescence of the sword, its blades were all hand-forged until 1916. Swordmaking there ceased in 1937.
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.
Many examples of this type have been repolished, sometimes many times over to keep the brass bright, which results in surface wear and obscures markings. This example is one of two held in the same family by descent from a French ancestor since at least the late 19th century (the other also for sale), and has been stored well but otherwise left alone, lending the brass an evenly aged patina.
[Click here for the other example of the pair]
The blade is unsharpened with multiple nicks to both edges. The blade has light speckled patination, with some spots of heavier patination including at the shoulder. A few small dents to the brass throat piece of the scabbard. The scabbard leather is good with some small dents on both sides and chunks of abrasion on the lower front face. All of its stitching is intact.
