Anyone know anything about swords?

[PyRo]

I have one and i'm not sure what it is. Blade is about 30in long, slightly curved blade (polished steal), sharpend on 1 side. About 2.5mm thick at base, 1 at tip. Top 8in is rounded on the sides, rest has a long groove going down both upper sides. Fairley simple brass hand gaurd, handle itself appears to be some type of plastic. I'm thinking this is WWI or a replica of one, as i have seen other swords with similar handles from this period. Holder thingy is Steal with a brass ring on top,and a brass piece at the bottom which slides over the steas. Both case and sword are marked E-17

[Temo Vryce]

Based on what you have deescribed it sounds like you are looking at a calvery sword/Officers dress sword.
A Katana would have a Plastic handle. it would be a wooden grip with an animal shin wrap with a threaded weave over that.

If you look on the net I'm sure that you can find out exactly what type of sword it is you are looking at. If you post a pic of it we might be able to point you in the right direction to look. I hope this helps you out.

[Load SM5]

I know a little about swords as well and would love to see a pic. Is the blade thickness consistant from edge to back or does it taper at some point? If so where along the length?

[wyn1370]

I pic would definitely help or one that closely resembles it.
Another helpful question might be where did you get it?

[PyRo]

I'm thinking dress sword, the holder deal is like an upside down L so if could fairley easially fall off.

[shartley]

PyRo
Yes, as stated by vf-xx, pictures would help out greatly. Without them, it is rather hard to make any determination.

Also many times there are manufacturer's stamps on the sword.. look for them. Also try to find a steel stamp. What grade of steel it is will tell a great deal. 440 and their abouts is usually ceremonial or decorative, because of its hardness. While actual working swords tend to be softer steel so they can better take the punishment of actual use, and are less likely to break because of the brittle nature of the harder steels. Can you also tell if it was stamped steel or if it was forged?

vf-xx's question about the tang is important mainly in 1 1/2 hand to 2 handed swords of the ASIAN verity. Standard Cavalry and Officer's swords of the European style tend to be full tang anyway simply because of the shortness of the actual hilt, and the way they are mostly constructed. In fact most European swords because of their hilt design and use of a pummel (yes even Rapiers and Sabers have pummels, yet they are quite small, and often designed into the hand guard.) have to be full tanged simply because the tang and pummel are what keeps the whole hilt attacked to the sword blade.

So unless this is an Asian sword (which do not always use a pummel due to the way they construct the blade, guard, grip, etc.) the question is really not that important in the grand scheme of things.

So as you can see, the tang length will actually tell you very little in this case. And actually can mean much different things than most people think it does.

And as for the material the sheath/scabbard is made out of... that too tells you little in itself because all parts of the world used everything from animal skin, wood, and metal for these.

Need pictures. Hope this helps. Anyone can make guesses as to what you have, but without pictures they would only be listing a bunch of sword names. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

vf-xx
I think he could tell if it was a Katana or not. Quite the difference between them and the others you listed.

[PyRo]

It is not a Kanta, i can tell you that much. I have seen the same handel in other swords both british and american made, so it isn't asian. I'll try and get some pictures. The only marking on it are E(sideways I)17, and when the handle is disassembled there is an 81 over 4 stamped on a tab hidden when assembled.

[shartley]

ahhh, NOW we are getting somewhere.

I look forward to seeing pictures of everything. Could you try to get as many pictures as you can? Like all the markings you listed, so we can see what they look like and WHERE they are exactly... the case.. blah, blah, blah...

Yes, I kind of like swords.... as if you could not tell.

[MikeCouves]

Paul La Rue is like an expert. I'll send him an email about this thread...I am sure he would love to help out .

[Webmaster]

If you can scan a pic of the sword and the hilt you will probably get some accurate answers.

This is ALOT of JUNK out there right now - with really poor replicas and "fantasy" swords at every flea market.

Being it has a plastic handle, its probably something in the "cheap sword" catagory. Dress sabres may have plastic faux ivory hilts, but they will have other redeeming marks on it.

so post it - and lets see it.

FYI - if you are interested in swords, the ebay catagory collectiables/militaria/pre 1700 - has some neat neat stuff on it some times. And there are several makers of good museum replicas and custom made swords using high carbon steel and finished realisticly.

[PyRo]

I know that it is atleast 40 years old, and it was owned by a sword collector for sometime before it was given as a gift to the person I got it from, so it it unlikely that it is a replica. 40 years ago it was probably fairly easy to find WWI swords, so it is unlikely that it is a replica, however it is possibly I guess. Unfortunatly the collector has died, and the person I got it from has no idea about it.

I was never really interested in swords before, and have had this sitting around for a while. For some reason I recently developed an intrest. Only other one that I have is a real old fencing sword.
I actaully looked through that section of e-bay today. It has some cool stuff, but I don't think I have an extra $500 laying around