Odd M1832/1834 Officer Sword

Joined
Mar 21, 2016
Location
Northern Virginia
Here is an unusual M1832/34 Officer sword. Although long outdated in the regular army, some of these were still being used by militia in the CW. The hilt is fairly standard except for the grip which is wrapped with twisted copper wire rather than silver foil simulated wire. Widmann used copper wire on his M1832/34s. What is really odd is the very narrow blue and gilt-decorated blade that looks more like a blade from a clam shell regulation of 1821 sword. Possibly it is a composite, but it comes with a gilt brass mounted leather scabbard with the characteristic lines on the mounts as seen on the regulation swords. What do you think - is this a composite, or a period variant, possibly produced by Widmann for a militia officer?

Narrow B G Blade 2.jpg
Narrow B G Blade 8.jpg
Narrow B G Blade 9.JPG
 
If you could post a photo of where the blade goes into the guard and one of the pommel top it would help.
 
I don't know about the blade except that it might have been a "high grade" version of that model. As to the wire grip, that was usually the first thing to fail with any regular handling and so it could have simply been an expedient repair done by anyone with the skill.
 
Thanks for the photos. IMOP the blade does NOT fit the way a sword of this caliber should. There seems to be a gap where it goes into the guard and it should be much tighter of a sword of this quality.
 
I did find another narrow-blade M1832 on the Civil War Preservations site. It is also a Widmann product with copper wire wrapped grip, but it differs quite a bit from the above sword. The main diference is the blade seems somewhat wider and is decorated with white etching vice B&G. It also comes with a general officer scabbard.

Widmann Narrow Blade CWP 1.jpg
Widmann Narrow Blade CWP 2.JPG
Widmann Narrow Blade CWP 3.JPG
Widmann Narrow Blade CWP 4.JPG
Widmann Narrow Blade CWP 5.jpg
 
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