1840 "Infantry Hanger"?

[Wraith_3]

My dad has this short sword and the tag is labeled "1840 Infantry Hanger". I can't find anything matching that description when I Google it or looking through his CW sword reference books. Is that a slang/nickname for this or does it have an official model name? Here are some pictures to see what I'm talking about. Any information would help!

The only marking other than the "509" on the guard is this shield.

 

[Lampasas Bill]

"Hanger" is a period generic name for a sword that "hung" from an over-the-shoulder cross belt, rather than from a waist belt like a cavalry saber.

 

[bobinwmass]

It does look like an 1840 Spanish briquette/hanger that I see online, though I am not an authority on foreign weapons and don't know if other countries also used them.

 

[bayonet]

It does look like an 1840 Spanish briquette/hanger that I see online, though I am not an authority on foreign weapons and don't know if other countries also used them.

Yeah Spanish/European with Mexico importing them but not a CW weapon. I've seen unsavory characters try to sell them as such or claim to be earlier Americana.

 

[Cavalier]

No expert myself but It looks like a French sabre briquette, (sic?), to me. From the Napoleonic era and later. I don't know how long they persisted in use after the Napoleonic era. It was a sword carried by infantrymen in the French Army. They were issued to the elite companies, (grenadier and light companies), of the line and light regiments and every company of the Guard regiments. Most historians contend that although seldom used in combat they were valued by the soldiers as symbols of their elite status.

It is my impression that other armies used them also but not sure how closely they resembled the French ones.

I believe a couple of companies make reproductions now.

John

 

[FedericoFCavada]

+1. Looks like a French Napoleonic Briquet or food-soldier's sword. The shield/proof mark should be ID'd, I think?

 

[bayonet]

My dad has this short sword and the tag is labeled "1840 Infantry Hanger". I can't find anything matching that description when I Google it or looking through his CW sword reference books. Is that a slang/nickname for this or does it have an official model name? Here are some pictures to see what I'm talking about. Any information would help!

View attachment 411730

View attachment 411731

The only marking other than the "509" on the guard is this shield.
View attachment 411732

go to www.swordforum.com sign up, post your pics, and ask questions. Many experts or close to it there will tell you all you need to know on it.

 

[Wraith_3]

Thanks! I don't know why he had it then. I'll go check out more info.

 

[DixieRifles]

Looks like a French Napoleonic Briquet

Link:
https://www.antique-swords.com/A38-Napoleonic-French-An-XIII-Briquet-Infantry-Sword.html

 

[James N.]

No expert myself but It looks like a French sabre briquette, (sic?), to me. From the Napoleonic era and later. I don't know how long they persisted in use after the Napoleonic era. It was a sword carried by infantrymen in the French Army. They were issued to the elite companies, (grenadier and light companies), of the line and light regiments and every company of the Guard regiments. Most historians contend that although seldom used in combat they were valued by the soldiers as symbols of their elite status.

It is my impression that other armies used them also but not sure how closely they resembled the French ones.

I believe a couple of companies make reproductions now.

John

These were refinements of the sabre briquette used by the French during the American Revolution and later. The blades remained essentially the same but this exact hilt design dates from 1805; a similar one was made for a few years before that, but this one is definitely the 1805 style. There are a couple of problems trying to pin these down, however. Firstly, thousands of them were lost in two catastrophic French defeats, the well-known retreat from Russia in 1812 and the now lesser-known but just as tragic so-called Battle of The Nations at Leipzig the following year. Many were also lost in Spain during that seemingly unending conflict 1808-1813. At the time, most of Napoleon's enemies - and that was virtually the entire European continent except France itself - were scrambling to create and arm vast armies of volunteers and conscripts, so were unlikely to refuse such windfalls as these. Therefore, similar short swords were soon being made to more or less match these throughout Europe. Now attempting to decide exactly which was used or manufactured by what particular country can be very difficult indeed! I'll add that I do not recognize the markings on this one and do not believe it's of French manufacture. Another complication with these is that they were also used by the allies of France, particularly what was then the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleon was its king and his stepson Prince Eugene Beauharnais its Viceroy) which consisted mainly of what is now northern Italy. I own another example of an undated but "regulation" French Napoleonic sabre that is marked BARISONI which I believe was a Milanese maker, therefore likely made for the Kingdom of Italy.