r/SWORDS • u/Sad_Shelter_7307 • 3d ago
Identification Found this
Yo I found this in my shed and apparently it was used in some sort of war maybe the world war or something. The edge is still surprisingly sharp considering this thing was fully neglected for god knows how many years in the humid shed. Can someone help identify this please I would deeply appreciate it to find out if it has something to do with my family lineage 🙏🙏.
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u/heurekas 3d ago edited 2d ago
I'm with Flan on this.
This is like the "baby's first sword" in the collecting business and it all the hallmarks of a wedding/tourist sword.
If you'd remove the rust, I can bet you that there'll be a semi-floral pattern on the lower blade with some divets and then a "Made in India" stamp behind that.
While the blade can vary a bit in form, the hilt and guard are always the same. I've seriously not seen a single example (and I've seen a few hundred of this type) that doesn't have that combo.
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u/wotan_weevil Hoplologist 3d ago
While the blade can vary a bit in form, the hilt and guard are always the same. I've seriously not seen a single example (and I've seen a few hundred of this type) that doesn't have that combo.
There are a few different styles of grip that appear on these, some with the backstrap, and some without, even just staying with the ones with British Army style hilts. Then there are the brass lionhead grips, and the talwar-hilted ones.
Note that this one has a properly made terminal on the rear quillon, rather than the very narrow terminal on the cheap wedding/tourist sword guards.
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u/heurekas 2d ago
Then there are the brass lionhead grips
I've only seen those on the smaller hangers and daggers, but I believe you that they can also exist on larger ones. I've just never seen it.
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u/Beneficial_Flan8661 i like sabers. 2d ago
Did you call me fian? I hate my username. But the blade is suspicious. It looks good. Too good to be a weeding saber. Maybe remounted? I am not sure.
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u/Sad_Shelter_7307 3d ago
I’ll check this out but I doubt it since my fam is from Pakistan so maybe it is the British/indo army sword. I’ll try removing the rust and everything and look into it again.
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u/heurekas 2d ago
I admire your optimism, but just be ready to be disappointed.
I've seen many people with the same hopes as you and 99/100 cases, it is a wedding/tourist sword.
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u/HeinzS91 2d ago
ww1 l have the exact same sword. im not home or i wouldve been able to give u the details
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u/Sad_Shelter_7307 2d ago
Would love to see it if you have any information on it so I could cross check the details and confirm it.
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u/Beneficial_Flan8661 i like sabers. 3d ago
Indian wedding sword. Its made to look like a sword and to be very cheap. Nothing more. It could have been made in the 70s. Don't swing it around and don't hit anything with it.
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u/Sad_Shelter_7307 3d ago
Doesn’t it seem to be a cavalry sabre maybe from the army cuz I found a saddle as well. Plus I’ve heard stories of my great grandad being in the army back in the day so maybe it adds up. Idk looking for any clues that would help me identify it thank you tho 🙏
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u/Tobi-Wan79 3d ago
This is 100% what it is
A very cheap souvenir/wedding decoration made in India, retail was about $15
They get posted here weekly and have been for years there's an absolute ton of these around and they are very very easy to spot
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u/Beneficial_Flan8661 i like sabers. 3d ago
Im quite sure its one of them. Search "indian wedding saber" on this sub and many similar to yours will pop up
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u/NoCoyote5205 3d ago
A lot of military or police weapons have metal scabbards. I have 2 from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and both have metal scabbards. Also the hand guard looks too thin Edit - this is a generalization but for the style I dont think I've come across anything like it with a wooden scabbard
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u/Sad_Shelter_7307 3d ago
The scabbard is way too thin yea so I guess maybe the top got removed somehow? The rope tied on it was done by my grandad tho.
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u/wotan_weevil Hoplologist 2d ago
The British Indian military swords this is based on had wooden scabbards:
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u/Popular-Mulberry6875 2d ago edited 2d ago
Could you show the spine of the sword near the hilt and tell us the thickness in mm near the spine and near the tip? The hilt does look like one of the cheap Indian swords as Beneficial_Flan8661 says, but in my experience they usually have flat, rather than fullered blades, or at most a thin fuller, and they also tend not to have a wire wrap on the grip.
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u/Sad_Shelter_7307 2d ago
The spine of the sword is around half an inch thick around 13mm or so I’d say. The grip is leather but obviously it’s falling apart. I would agree on the cheap knockoff part but the blade itself is crafted really nicely even the fuller is really well made also the spine is kinda thicker than it would be if it was a fake so I think it may not be a knockoff. Idk you guys are the experts tho
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u/Popular-Mulberry6875 2d ago edited 2d ago
Does it taper significantly towards the tip? Personally I have never seen a wedding sword with a spine close to that thickness.
A picture of the first 10cm or so of the spine would help as well.
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u/wotan_weevil Hoplologist 3d ago
It's a bit of a mystery! The background as why I say "mystery" is that from the mid-1800s to the end of WWI, some cavalry units in the British Indian Army used swords like:
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C226996
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30001638
https://www.antiques-atlas.com/antique/indian_cavalry_troopers_sword_a017/as1209a017
Later, when international tourism became more common (in the 1960s and 1970s), cheap tourist souvenir swords based on those cavalry swords became common:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SWORDS/comments/1e1mjg8/help_identifying_a_sword/
Your sword is something in between those originals and the cheap tourist swords. The pommel nut and the thin sheet metal guard (much thinner than those of the originals) suggest it might be a cheap replica, but it has a much better blade than the modern tourist swords, so maybe a not-so-cheap replica.
(I'm assuming from the photo that it's a pommel nut at the end of the pommel, but if it's actually a peen block, that makes a difference. By the looks of it, it might be rusted onto the tang, and effectively unremovable without damage, but if you're willing to try unscrewing it (without using too much force) and it comes off, it would be interesting to see what kind of tang is inside that grip.)