Brazilian c1880 Artillery Trooper’s Sword
Curved single-fullered spear-pointed sabre blade, steel bowl hilt, pressed black leather grips secured to the exposed full-width tang with five steel rivets, steel pommel, black leather washer. Steel scabbard with singe fixed hanging ring and frog loop.
The blade is stamped on one side with the maker’s mark: a set of scales and ‘Alex Coppel Solingen’. The hilt is stamped with a motif of crossed cannons below ‘E.U.B.’, which stands for ‘Estados Unidos do Brasil’ (United States of Brazil). The spine of the blade and chape piece of the scabbard are stamped with the proof mark ‘M’. The pommel is stamped with ‘047’, probably a rack number. The tang is stamped with ‘26’.
These swords were produced on contract by manufacturers in Solingen, Germany, but in terms of design appear to have been inspired by British swords, particularly the 1821 Heavy and 1853 Universal pattern cavalry trooper’s swords. After gaining independence in 1889 the Brazilian Republic remained dependent on imported arms, aa situation which only began to change with extensive efforts to grow its own arsenals and supporting industries in the early 20th century.
The blade has patches of light pitting but is overall bright. The hilt has been deeply blued and retains almost all of this original finish. The grips have some rubbing wear and one dent to the left side grip scale. The scabbard is similarly bright, but with some patches of pitting and a few small dents.
See Swords of the Americas by George E Weatherly, American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin 2005