Beautiful French made Chilean cavalry sabre. The spine of the blade marked with the French arsenal, “Manufacture d’armes de Chatellerault” Followed by “JH,” the initials of Jacob Holtzer, the French government exporter.
The sabre was made between 1891 and 1893 as evidenced by the French inspection poincon on the ricasso. The poincon, “C” in a diamond is that of M.P. Chouard, the First Inspector at the Chatellerault arsenal in 1891. Although almost illegible, the remaining two poincon are likely to be a “B” in a circle is for Mr. Brenier, the chief/Premier Inspector at Chatellerault until 1893 and a “C” in a circle for Mr. Champs who was the Director of Manufacture during this time. These men oversaw the production of these sabres.
The 89 cm “T” section blade has a wide single fuller on both sides and a short fuller on the spine behind the spear point tip. The blade is bright and in over-all good condition with very minor pitting.
The Chilean coat of arms, a star within a shield is stamped on the ricasso and the obverse bears the French inspection stamps mentioned above.
The polished steel bowl guard bears unit markings, “4” over “81” and “2” over “.70.” stamped below the pommel and a weapon/rack number “D 496” on the front of the guard above the ricasso.
The hilt is brown Bakelite, which is cracked at the finger ridge resulting in some small movement in the hilt. The hilt could be removed and break glued which would rectify this.
Over all this is a beautiful and collectable late 19th Century cavalry sabre.
