Gentlemen,

Well, I never could pass up a nice sword so I bought this Austrian sword today. Now I need some help.

It is made like the standard 1866 Austrian Infantry Officers sword except it has a brass hilt and a leather scabbard with brass fittings instead of nickeled steel. I have also never seen the Austrian knot before.

What do I have?

View of the reverse brass scabbard fittings showing the typical Austrian scabbard hanger configuration.

View of the hilt showing the sharkskin grips and brass hilt. The purple knot is one that I have not seen before either and is supposedly original to the sword. The Austrian eagle can be seen on the stem.

Anyone with a book on Austrian swords that shows this one?

Here is a description of a sword similar to yours.

This was the sword for all state officials of the Austro-Hungarian empire from 1889 until the end of the empire in 1918. There were some other models, notably of the smallsword variety with mother-of-pearl grips, but this was the only sabre version. The logo on the top locket is for Franz Josef I, emperor from 1848-1916.

This is a reasonably clean example, with the bulk of its gilt remaining to the hilt and a substantial amount on the scabbard mounts. There is a small crease to the bottom mount, front and back; otherwise, the whole sword is in excellent shape, with all its original grip wire. The body of the scabbard is steel, which has been carefully covered with a fine black calf leather, the bulk of which is in excellent shape.

The blade is made by Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Co, Solingen

Nice sword, I sold 1 w/ the original set of hangers years ago. I really think they are neat swords. This one is simpler that the 2 I sold, the hilt had pierced basket w/ the Austrian Eagle and the scabbard had very ornate drag and hanger hardware.

Thanks for the comments guys...

I usually associate the sword with the more ornate basket D guard that Wayne mentions as the standard Austrian Officials (Beamte) sword. I think this may well be a lower officials sword, perhaps someone with an equvalent rank range to Senior NCOs?

The knot has a closed Quaste so it may well be from between the wars. Here is a similar Austrian Portepee for Customs. Notice this one is from between the wars and the eagle is not crowned and holds no mace or septer.

Now what the heck does this Imperial purple knot represent?

Gents,

As a follow-up from information I received from Europe, it now seems that this particular sword was for the Military Police. Konopisky's Austrian sabre book states this Model 1862 sabre was used by the Austrian Military Police since that date. This organization morphed into the Sicherheitswache and the Militaer WachKorps who provided court security.