EXTREMELY RARE French 1801 Light Cavalry TROOPER Saber An IX, NOT XI or Officer

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EXTREMELY RARE French 1801 Light Cavalry TROOPER Saber An IX, NOT XI or Officer:
$3450.00

This is the regulation forerunner of the famous and highly sought after rank and file Model An XICheveau Legere sabre, used by virtually all of Napoleon’s light cavalry units,also called “a la Chasseur.” To give you some idea of how rare this saber is,records of the French Military Historical Service indicate that 25,790 An IXsabers are known to have been produced between 1801 and 1806, compared to 156,085An XI sabers produced between 1806 and 1817! Assembly of both was split roughly50/50 between Klingenthal and Versailles, with all of the blades being producedat Klingenthal. To add to the rarity, the main reason the saber was replacedwith the An XI is because the scabbard construction was too flimsy to stand upto hard field use, so there are few surviving examples. The An XI scabbard thatreplaced the An IX weighs almost as much as the entire An IX saber! The exampleoffered here matches nearly exactly sabre No. J. 458/3 in the Musee Armee,carrying the inspection stamps of Mouton and Levavasseur. The blade spinemarking is slightly different, dating this blade earlier than the referenced onein the Musee Armee. This one is marked “Mf’ture du Klingenthal Coulaux FreresEntrep’res”, which was only used during the first year of production: 1801 to 1802. The Musee Armee example is marked “Manufrena’le du Klingenthal Coulaux Freres Entrep’res”, with the “National” descriptoradded between 1802 and 1805. This information is documented in “Armes BlanchesMilitaires Francaises” by Christian Aries, Tome VI, 4eme Fascicule. Includedwith this saber is the original signed ink on mylar An IX drawingcreated by Michel Petard for the Aries book. On the drawing, the hilt and bladedetails are drawn full size. Additional documentation will be provided.

As forcondition, it is totally correct, original, and complete, including the woodenbaguettes inside the scabbard. It shows a lot of hard service and some cleaningover the years, but no modern repairs. There is a very slight rattle to theguard and the blade is slightly wavy. Sighting down the scabbard spine, itbecomes clear why the blade is wavy and why this model was discontinued afterproducing less than 30,000 units. The blade fits in the scabbard but it is verytight because the bends and twists, and I would not recommend displaying thesword with the blade in the scabbard for long periods of time. The bladereturns to the shape shown when removed, but it puts fatigue on the metal thatis unhealthy and unnecessary, because the blade is so pretty and should beseen! An expert swordsmith might want to undertake straightening the scabbard,but it took over 200 years to get the way it is, and I think it looks justfine. The bends and twists are not all that noticeable when the scabbard ishanging on the wall.

The grip leather is heavily worn with the twineunderwrapping coming through in places, but everything is stable with noflaking. The olives (or acorns) appear to be solidly in place. The hilt iscorrect An IX, differing from the An XI in that the branches end before themain bow enters the pommel cap. One of these sabers comes on the market everyonce in a blue moon, so if you are wanting to fill a hole in your advancedcollection, this would be a good time to do it.Satisfaction guaranteed if returned within seven days in the same condition sent. However, I do not reimburse for shipping either way, so please ask any questions before you offer. Shipping is a guesstimate, but I will only ship this USPS, UPS or FEDEX insured. International shipping will be at least double. Thanks for looking!