Help me ID this sword

[JustJulian]

So I've just taken over as researcher in the Royal Canadian Dragoons regimental archives room, and while looking at the various swords we have in our collection, this one here stood out to me as not being quite right:

DSCN0822.JPG (229.51 KiB) Viewed 2332 times

DSCN0823.JPG (205.23 KiB) Viewed 2332 times

DSCN0825.JPG (243.46 KiB) Viewed 2332 times

This sword is labeled in our Archive as a Pattern 1821 Officer's Light Cavalry Sabre. There are no manufacturer's markings anywhere on the hilt, blade, or scabbard - with the exception of "India" stamped into the ricasso. Also - and this could be due to ageing and rust - the sword and scabbard are an extremely tight fit. Correct me if i'm wrong, but it was to my understanding that the 1821 had a 3-bar guard, not 4 as this model shows. I'm not entirely sure on blade geometry. This blade is not pipe backed, and it is actually quite heavy.

Any help you could give me in correcting (or not correcting) this label for our archives would be tremendously appreciated.

Cheers.

[MattS]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but it was to my understanding that the 1821 had a 3-bar guard, not 4 as this model shows

The British one absolutely did yes, but this looks French in style. It looks a lot like the French 1822 pattern (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21395). The hilt on this one is undecorated so that would imply a trooper's rather than officer's one. I had a quick look in Google images and the 1822 seems to have had either a 3 or 4 bar hilt.

I would say that this one looks a fairly cheap copy too, for example the wire on the grip appears to just be sat on the leather rather than sunk into grooves, the leather itself looks very shiny and the brass looks a lot thinner than antique ones I've seen.

I know a lot of nations adopted their models for themselves (eg Japan and the US). Is that something Canada did too?

[JustJulian]

I know a lot of nations adopted their models for themselves (eg Japan and the US). Is that something Canada did too?

I don't believe so. Canada maintained very close ties to the British throughout our colonial years. We weren't a nation that ever strayed too far from what Britain was issuing (uniforms, weapons etc) with the exception of our uniforms and the Ross Rifle in WW1 (both of which were quickly dropped in favor of British uniforms and Lee Enfield rifles)

The Royal Canadian Dragoons formed in 1883 when the Dominion was given permission to for the Canadian Cavalry School. None of the photographs or paintings I've seen in the archives room (and believe me, there are A LOT) depict a sword of this nature - most of them seem to show the Pattern 1887
Officer's Sword.

[JustJulian]

Thank you to everyone who viewed this post and provided feedback. I determined a while back that this sword is no longer worthy of my time. Just today I've actually found out that its just a cheap reproduction french Sabre.

[admin]

Hi, I've only just seen this, but yes it is a modern Indian reproduction.