A good and fine example of a British Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry Officer’s Sword to the Lifeguards, an elite British cavalry regiment that still guards the monarch to this day and provides ceremonial duties, most notably at Buckingham Palace and other royal palaces. This is a good example of a British Napoleonic 1796 Pattern Heavy Cavalry Officer’s Sword of a type associated with officers who served in the famous Life Guards regiments. These regiments comprised the 1st and 2nd Lifeguards. There are a number of variants to this sword and the differences are normally associated with the pommel tang button (either flattened or tubular) and the quillons – some have a scallop shell to the guard or none may be present. In this case, the “scallop” is of open-ring form. The D-shaped knuckleguard is also secured to the pommel by means of a brass screw.
British Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry Officer’s Sword to the Lifeguards – boat shell hilt
This Napoleonic Lifeguards officer’s sword has a very distinctive boat shell hilt and the grip is covered in sheet silver made to give the appearance of wrapped silver twistwire. This is a common feature on officers’ swords of the period and we also see it used on the grips of British Napoleonic infantry officers’ swords. The blade is single-fullered to half of the blade and typically plain – very few if any that I have encountered have been decorated. It has some appropriate age wear. In very good condition overall – some age and service damage to the sheet silver grip. Blade length is 32 inches (38 inches overall). No scabbard – interestingly, these swords are hardly ever seen with their original leather and brass mounted scabbards – assume that they have perished over time.
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