Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very interesting sidearm, issued during the period of panic when Napoleon and his hordes threatened to invade England. The great Naval Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 pretty much ensured that Napoleon’s invasion would not happen but Great Britain maintained various county militias for many years until Napoleon’s final defeat at the
Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
This saber from Kent, England’s closest county to France, is marked KENT M on the brass knuckle bow and DEAL CASTLE on the brass mounted leather over steel scabbard.
The 30.5 blade is the model of 1796 which is very curved with hatchet point and is maker marked Colley Sargent & Fairfax on the upper spine (Colley is very faint).
Hatchet points were wider at the tip than at the hilt inflicting a dreadful wound. Even Napoleon Bonaparte apparently complained of the hatchet points inhumanity.
The mounts are all brass with a ribbed iron grip. The scabbard’s top mount has been slightly damaged by buckling from the saber being too often rammed into the scabbard with too much force. However, still works perfectly. A wonderful Napoleonic era sword used by a militia in ones England oldest counties.