I was contacted today by a Gent who said this Blade has been a Family "hand me down" for years . He does not want to sell it but ..he'd like to know a value and find out anything he could about it. I told him I don't deal with Imperial but would post it to see if any of you could help out

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Mike,

This is a standard Imperial Prussian Model 1889 sword. It was made by Clemen u. Jung and sold through the Berlin distributor shown on the blade ricasso. I don't know the coat of arms on the pommel but it probably relates to the minor nobility name engraved on the guard.

The odd thing about this sword is the fact that the guard star is on the wrong (reverse) side of the grip.

I hope this is helpful.

I can�t add much to what George said other than the named individual might not have risen to the level of �nobility� but was rather something more comparable to one of the lesser grades of landed families. As for the sword itself it looks to have some had some things added such as the white leather (?) finger loop and Garde Star. Which as George pointed out is on the inside. Which I think is a little strange, but does not appear to be recent. Also the scabbard seems to have had two rings (one now removed) and is now painted black which often indicates a minor rework for WW I. FP

Looks like 'von Steinau' on the guard.

A quick look in the archives reveiled a similar coat of arms for a ' Steinr�ck von Steinau'.



Kris.

Thanks Guys ..and Thanks to "Glen J", "Mike Dwyer". "Naxos" and "Rick Research" for the info they also found on it --
"Major Richard v. Steinau-Steinr�ck commanded the 1st Battalion of Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 114 from 17 February 1898 until his retirement on 19 January 1899. He was still alive in 1910."
" the scabbard was originally a nickled 2 ring suspension type, which had the lower ring cut off in 1906 to update regulation wear and then was blackened in 1910 keeping current without buying a new one: "
Rick also added --
"There were three cavalrymen in the family-- they did not wear the IOD 89. Nor did the lone artillery officer. A young Leutnant in Grenadier Regiment 7 was killed in 1914, but unless he was Richard's son, he can't be a possible wearer. They did sometimes pass along family arms.
Glen J found this --

I already Emailed the info to the owner and he's THRILLED , looks like the "research Ball" is in his Court now (Family Tree) ... Thanks guys

The family history presented does seem to shed some light on the engraving. The sword is an early version of the IOD 89, and because a fair number of early IOD 89�s still exist in their original configuration, I think that for most of those swords that it�s reasonable to assume that the original owners were retired from military service. Which seems to be the case here.

Where the provenance for this sword I think gets a little more interesting is that it has both of the officially authorized modifications. Which for an officer in continuous service is not unusual. Although in many cases it could also be for an officer who was mobilized just prior to or during WW I and needed to have a sword - which itself was not uncommon.

Where some questions are raised is with the nature of the finger ring replacement and the Garde Star on the inside of the grip. I hope the owner is successful in his search in finding out more about the sword. And I think it also would be interesting to know just how it came into the possession of the family who now owns it. Which might help shed some additional light. FP