Imperial Edged Weapons

[gregM]

Outstanding!!

[Guest Rick Research]

Oh, found out some more about sword presenter von Schleicher--

he was

Bogislav Thilo Otto Hans-Karl

born Perleberg 23 October 1892.

His first marriage ended in divorce in 1931, and his ex-wife remarried his 1st cousin

Kurt.

Yeah.

THAT Kurt.

She was gunned down by the SS answering her apartment door on 30 June 1934, as they burst into to assassinate General Kurt von Schleicher.

But wait! There is more!

What would named swords' stories be without misery, tragedy, and death unlooked for?

Apparently by mistake (as was quite common-- apparently the NKVD simply had lists of names and figured, hey, arrest them all, just in case...)

retired Rittmeister Bogislav von Schleicher was carted off from his Prussian property at war's end, and died in Soviet imprisonment 2 November 1945.

[Mark M]

Here are a couple of others. Nothing as glamorous as the others. The first is a minty enlisted mans KD89 with an engraved blade to the Uhlan Regiment Nr. 17.

[attachmentid=21426]

[attachmentid=21427]

Edited January 3, 2006 by Mark M

[Mark M]

Here is a Prussian Infantry presentation sword. I apologize for the pictures of the blade. The engraved section is over 12" long and I can not get a good photo of it in 1 picture, so I had to break it down into a couple. The presentation has beautiful blued panels and the blade is genuine plated damascus. The obverse presentation reads "Dem Schneidenden Bezirksadjutanen Oberleutnant Buchholz von Inf. Regt Freiherr von Sparr No. 16". The Reverse reads "Der Offizier Verein der Landwehrbezirke I und II Essen 1905". Here is the sword.

[attachmentid=21430]

[Mark M]

Obverse presentation of the Buchholz sword.

[attachmentid=21431]

[attachmentid=21432]

Edited January 3, 2006 by Mark M

[Mark M]

Here is the reverse presentation of the Buchholz sword.

[attachmentid=21433]

[attachmentid=21434]

[attachmentid=21435]

[gregM]

You wouldn't possibly have an Imperial hunting dagger or short sword to post?

[Guest Rick Research]

Buchholz was commissioned SekLt 22.3.91

Oberleutnant 22.3.00 C2c and was Adjutant of the IInd Essen Landwehrbezirk in 1905

Back to Inf Rgt 16 he went

Hauptmann 18.5.07 Y4y

acquiring a Red Eagle Order 4 between 1913/14.

Major 22.3.14 B

and

char. Oberstleutnant aD

He died 23 April 1923.

Now, no thanks to the horrible Prussian gazetting of Hohenzollern House Order 3X awards during the war, there were TWO such awards to a "Major Buchholz," either of which could have been him-- one 3.11.17, and the other 19.2.18.

[Ramblinfarms]

Absolutely beautiful!!!

How do you keep the blades so well preserved?

[Mark M]

You wouldn't possibly have an Imperial hunting dagger or short sword to post?

Sorry, but I don't. I always wanted one of those Bavarian ones with the black grips and the huge lionheads but I have never been lucky enough find one.

[Mark M]

Absolutely beautiful!!!

How do you keep the blades so well preserved?

One of the tricks is finding IN this condition to begin with. After that, regular cleaning with Semi-chrome (a non abrasive cleaner designed for polished metals) and keep them free from finger prints. I only handle these with cotton gloves to keep the oils from my skin off the blades.

[Mark M]

Here is another unusal sword. This would have been worn by an Austrian civilian official. I love the pierced hand guard on this sword.

Here is the whole sword.

[attachmentid=21457]

And a close up of the Austrian eagle worked into the hand guard.

[attachmentid=21458]

[Mark M]

Here is a nice Bavarian KD89 engraved to the Bavarian 2. Chevaulegers Taxis.

[attachmentid=21464]

[Mark M]

Obverse blade.

[attachmentid=21467]

[Mark M]

And reverse.

[attachmentid=21469]

[Ramblinfarms]

What a fantastic selection of the art of sword making. With Wilkinson going out of the sword business, who is left?

I have a 1796 Pattern Brit. Hussar (LD) Saber with a Damascus Blade I just love but the Damascus pattern has darkened and hard to see. Anything you can do to bring out the pattern again that won't damage the blade? The scabbard is leather with iron fittings.

[Mark M]

What a fantastic selection of the art of sword making. With Wilkinson going out of the sword business, who is left?

I have a 1796 Pattern Brit. Hussar (LD) Saber with a Damascus Blade I just love but the Damascus pattern has darkened and hard to see. Anything you can do to bring out the pattern again that won't damage the blade? The scabbard is leather with iron fittings.

It is possible to have the blade acid etched again. From what I understand of the process they use a mild acid which removes a little of the softer metal making the pattern more visible again. The harder metals are untouched so the blade retains its natural shape. I know of a person who specializes in sword restoration who can do it. If you are interested send me a PM and I will dig out his name, address and phone number. He can probably give you more information about the process and cost.

[Mark M]

Buchholz was commissioned SekLt 22.3.91

Oberleutnant 22.3.00 C2c and was Adjutant of the IInd Essen Landwehrbezirk in 1905

Back to Inf Rgt 16 he went

Hauptmann 18.5.07 Y4y

acquiring a Red Eagle Order 4 between 1913/14.

Major 22.3.14 B

and

char. Oberstleutnant aD

He died 23 April 1923.

Now, no thanks to the horrible Prussian gazetting of Hohenzollern House Order 3X awards during the war, there were TWO such awards to a "Major Buchholz," either of which could have been him-- one 3.11.17, and the other 19.2.18.

Rick

Thank you very much for adding the bios here. Does the gazetting of the HHO 3X mention the senority date for the Major Buchholz? It might be possible to determine if it was this one from that.

Also, what do you use for a resource? The 1914-1918 Honors Ranklist doesn't provide anywhere near the detail you turn up.

Thanks again,

Mark

[Guest Rick Research]

The HHOX roll is almost useless. A typical entry says something like "Lt Schmidt X.X.18." that's it. If the name is unique and it is possible to find which of two it is from a date based on seniority, that works. Can't do that in this case with more than one of the same name/rank possible, time-wise. Really annoying because the award documents HAVE all the information we crave.

Reference sources are found at:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=688

[Paul R]

Spectacular collection! I have not seen so many engraved swords!

[Mark M]

Here is another unusual sword I came upon. While not in the condition I normally try to collect it is a rather rare sword. Instead of the usual gilting most Imperial lion heads would have this sword's hilt is heavily silvered. The blade is engraved with the coat of arms for Braunschweig. The sword also has an original Braunschweig sword knot with the blue/yellow insert on the knot. Braunschweig only raised 1 cavalry regiment which was the 17th Hussars. Their pre-war tunic colors were black with silver frogging. The only explanation I have for the silver hilt is that perhaps an officer wanted something that matched his regimental colors?

Here is a picture of the sword.

[attachmentid=21688]

Here is a picture of the detail in the hilt backstrap.

[attachmentid=21689]

Here is a picture of the engraved balde.

[attachmentid=21690]

[Mark M]

Here is a closeup of the Braunschweig coat of arms.

[attachmentid=21692]

Here is the sword knot. It is dirty but the colors are easy to see.

[attachmentid=21693]

[Mike Dwyer]

I have a imprial German sword I inherited from my father. I don't know much about it, except it's a little different than any I've ever seen. It's shaped like a lot I've seen, but there is no gold-colored metal on the hilt, the entire hilt and scabbard are black. The only lighter colored metal is the wire on the grip and Kaiser Wilhelm II's cypher on the grip looks like brass. It has the Prussian eagle on the hinged, fold-down, knuckle guard. There are no maker's marks anywhere. The blade is rather rusty and there are some rusty patches where the paint has been chipped off the scabbard.

The story my father (who is no longer living) told me, if I remember it correctly, was..........he was a US Army infantry first lieutenant in WW2. There was some small town, somewhere (he never told me where) that the Waffen SS had rolled into and put up barricades. The SS told the Volksturm commander to get out his old men and teenage boys and defend the town to the death! Then the SS left. As the US troops approached, the Volksturm commander had the barricades removed and as the troops entered the town my dad was the first US officer the commander spotted, so he surrendered the town, and his sword, to him. My dad accepted the sword and kept it.

I apologize for my photographic technique (or lack thereof) and this particular digital camera doesn't seem to do closeups very well.

Edited January 8, 2006 by Mike Dwyer

[Mike Dwyer]

Knuckle guard

[Mike Dwyer]

Kaiser's cypher