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I have a US Artillery Officer Sabre that was made in Germany circa 1880-1902 that has no maker mark or distributor on the ricasso. It does have US import markings of "GERMANY" on the blade tang and the tang is also maker marked "A.O.+". Any idea of who this maker might be?

Orpo:
I can't tell you who made it but I can tell you it was imported after 1890. The McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 required that all imported goods be marked with the country of origin.
Jim

Thanks for narrowing down the time frame Jim.

Here is an overall picture of the sword.

These were actually old regulation Artillery Officer Sabres by 1890 but some officers continued to wear them between 1872 and 1902. Of course they were supposed to be replaced by the Model 1872 P guard Artillery and the Model 1902 Army Sabre for all officers.

George-

Got a question. Bit of a digression yet still on topic to some degree. What precipitated the Army standardizing the dress pattern saber for officers? My understanding since reading this at some point somewhere (where I have no idea), is that the expectation placed on officers is that the transition was to be completed by the end of calandar year 1903. 2nd question: what were the exceptions to the M1902 rule? For example the M1913 Patton mounted thrusting sword. Were these considered special purpose for use while mounted yet prohibited for formal dress occassions like change of commands and so forth? In such a case for a mounted cav. officer would he own both or is it reasonable to assume the he merely owned the M1902 pattern while the mounted M1913 was property of the US Government and issued as needed? I've come accross a couple Patton patterns -1913's,1914's,etc. over the years which were "permanently borrowed" by the respective officer from the First World War and brought home as a keep-sake.

Sorry to digress but this discussion jarred my memory and brought these questions back up which I had forgot about some time ago.

On your AO marked tang, i've never seen that before. I was brainstorming what the acronym coul stand for and came up with various theories, but are only theories and nothing more. Do you think it's possible that the AO marking has nothing to do with who'm the manufacturer is, but rather a special delliniator for export saber blades....like maybe "American Ord." or something along those lines? I'd be curious to hear what that stamping actually refers to. It would be interesting, though not advised, to disassembly M19102 patterns imported from Germany and see what if any of the tang markings were.

Tom

Hi Tom,

The US Army apparently decided to replace the different officer swords for various Army branches (Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry) around the turn of the century. As you mention, the Model 1902 Army Officer Sabre was supposed to replace all these branch specific officer swords. Of course since officers were required to purchase their own swords some did what they wanted and hung on to their old style swords or simply wore what they wanted while they could get by with it. The Patton sword is a good example. You will find some of those that have been chrome/nickel plated and have a different chromed steel scabbard that was worn by some officers. Even though this sword was supposed to be attached to a horse instead of being worn by a man... they existed and there are pictures of them in wear.

This same period of time was one of experimentation and various equipment boards that tested all sorts of US military gear, including swords. The Iron hilted Model 1906 Cavalry Sabre was made because of a shortage of Model 1860 Light Cavalry Sabres (supposedly). The Experimental Model 1905 Cavalry sword was tested around this same time and I have a cavalry manual that shows this sword in use. So, oddities such as the Experimental Model 1931 Cavalry Sabre existed but were never adopted.

The D guard Artilley Officer Sabre was adopted as the Model 1840 but continued in use until it was supposed to be replaced by the P guard Artillery Officer Sabre... but it continued to be manufactured until I suppose circa 1902. Bezdek shows some of these in his book, "American Swords and Sword Makers".

I think it is possible that the "A.O.+" tang mark could certainly be the blade forger or an importer or who knows? I know that many of the sword blades used by Ames on the US Model 1906 Cavalry Sabres were actually made in Germany and bear "GERMANY" stamps on the tang. Of course you have to tear the hilt apart to see the marking. Perhaps the "A.O.+" refers to Ames?

It would all be so much easier if the US dealer would have put his name on the ricasso. Here is an example of the regulation Model 1872 Artillery Officer Sabre that was made by Horstmann and named to a General of Artillery.

George

HI George,

Thank you for the explanation regarding the transition period and the "exceptions" to the rule.

Regarding your saber with the AO -Ames Ordnance?- tang stamping, I guess theoretically it would be made in Germany by a subcontractor for exportation, and stamped for distribution to the respective appropriating company. I wonder then, if that was the case, if the saber then was assembled in the USA, after the company received the forged and plated blade from their sub in Germany.

As often is the case, more questions than answers. Like you said, who wants to go breaking down their saber for merely investigative curiosity...I suppose if we all disassembled our US sabers from that era, we would probably be able to come to some conclusion based on the data.

I never bought Bezdek's book- at the time of publishing it was too expensive, especially for a person who only collectors very specific US saber patterns, all of which are post turn-of-the-century models, i.e. M1902, M1913 Patton, M1917/M1918 trench knives and so forth. Perhaps now might be a good time to eBay or Amazon it since it's been out now for quite some time.

These strange tang markins always pique my interest.

Tom