I added this piece recently. It came from one of our peers, who has a nack for digging up vet finds.

This example is nothing to write home about in regards to condition, and certainly is nothing rare. The identical langet examples with the engraved combo backstrap and crossguard is a bit more difficult to find than this example. However, the price was right and I had yet to add this specific ACS example to the saber collection.

When she arrived, she was quite dirty and the previous owner had saturated the blade with what seems to be gun oil. As such the blade had that dingy gray look to it, and the grip wires were miserably dark with traces of the brass green gunk. Unfortunately the grip wiring on the 4th row from the top has the middle, larger guage double twisted wire, broken. Certainly this could be repaired or replaced but based on the totality of it, I see no need to. A hit to the blade and grip wire with Semichrome, followed up with a coat of Renwax has corrected the issue. As far as her gilting, she retains about 70-75%. Interestingly, the gold coloring on the hilt is actually a type of plating, that I have seldom seen. It's a high-brite finish, much more mirroresque than typically seen on saber hilts. This is the only ACS example I have with this specific type of gold colored finish. Scabbard is dent free as well as rust free, but has some paint loss, expecially around the are of the hanger ring obverse.

If anyone else has another of this example, i'd be curious to see what kind of finish the piece has. I have never handled this specific ACS example before and was suprised by the type of finish it has. If I were to guess, i'd think the plating is some type of gold colored electro-plating. However, the grip ferrule seems to have a different finish on it. It almost resembles a ferrule manufactured by Eickhorn and seen on examples such as the Schanrhorst. I wouldn't be surprised if Alcoso used the specific Eickhorn ferrule on this particular model.

I also want to add another photo of this one. I should also explain that I used some VERY light hommade sudsy amonia and a super soft toothebrush to remove trace dirt from the hilt, d-guard, langets, backstrap and so on. When the mixture is made properly, it's a pretty safe immersion liquid. However, one needs to take care to avoid excess water seepage into the grip. This could be disasterous today. With many of our sabers starting to show hairline celluloid grip cracks from the wooden underskeleton shrinking and expanding, adding additional moisure (significant amounts..not just 1 or 2 drops)will cause further expansion on the wooden innards and likely cause exisiting hairlines the largen, fine cracks to become chips and a host of other bad stuff. The mild sudsy I use is probably ones best bet for cleaning the hilt on gilted sabers. Semichrome is much too abrasive for hilts. For grip wire and the blade, Semichrome is right as chicken slippers. You hit the langets or pommel, get ready for a shiny looking penny. Odios to the remainder of your gilt.

To elaborate, I don't immerse my hilts. The d-guard can be slightly immersed into a shallow receptical, and hand held in place ensuring that only that portion will be immersed. For the remainder of the hilt, i use the soft toothebrush, dampened with sudsy, and lightly coast it on the area (the saber hilt should be cleaned in small section as a time), let it sit for a few minutes as most, then remove the sudsy compound with a rag which has been dampened in fresh water. Doing this twice then immediately drying seems to be the safest way to "sudsy" a saber hilt, barring taking the sword hilt apart..which I am inherently opposed to...unless absulutely neccessary for significant restoration.

After the hilt is completely treated to my satisfaction with the sudsy, and after i'm certain no moisture remains in a latent or hidden spots on the hilt and she is bone dry, I apply a very light coat of Renwax to the entire hilt and blade. Grip, grip-wiring, dackstrap, pommel, d-guard, crossguards and langets. And of course, a pollishing and removal of the excess wax with a Very soft cloth.

I know we've discussed sword maint. as opposed to dagger maint, and how most collector conceptualize a nice sword vs. a nice dagger. Going back to the egg meathod, i've only used it once, the results were incredible, the army dagger patinad up very well after only a few minutes of exposure. I should add that I excercised about every precaution I could in order to mitigate as much as possible. As far as Heer sabels go, we, as collectors, around the globe, tend to assign both value and the degree of aesthetic pleasuer from the sword by 1) rating the condition of the blade 2) rating condition of the hilt, especially how much gilt is retained including shined grip wires 3) scabbard condition in regards to dings/dents and % of black paint still intact. Dagger maint. and selection often differs from army sword maint. and selection and is evidenced by prices.

I know it's really not the most engaging topic I've started, but I find the disparities in taste very interesting in the collecting field. We love our patina'd army 2nd Luft. dolches, along with some middle of the road patina on our M33's and M36's. I do as well. Even though I was the one who cleaned the Alcoso dagger 5-6 years ago. Today I wouldn't make the mistake again unless forced to clean it due to oxidation breakdown. But your middle of the road Army sabers are a whole different ball of wax.

What do the rest of you think? Buy only minty examples? Buy dingy examples you like and leave them as such, or buy dingy examples that can be resucitated with some know-how and a little TLC? (Maint for tripple engraved and etched blades is a bit different so I want to keep the question confined to only basic Army officer/nco dress sabers).

This photo is post-sudsy treatment. Very light, but satisfactoraly removed the dirt and brightened up the colored plating still intact while also helpinig the expose brass along.

Coincidentally, I have no intention to fiddle with the scabbard. It's dent and ding free, both wooden runners are accounted for, and the only paint missing is in the area which you see on the obverse above the suspension ring. The original knot which came with the sword is currently being treated. It was extremely dry and aged. Clearly some red rot present. Hopefully, the treatment will moisturize and inhibit further degredation to the knot from rot. After treatment is complete (about 7 days) I need to sow her up. The knot is very attractive and will fit well back on the piece where it's been for a very long time, possible came home that way based on the fact it came from the vets family. Added during the war during liberatin of post war, at home, it makes no difference to me. The majority of my pieces with know had them added after the war, mostly by yours truly.

Good collecting and am still curious to see other examples of this ACS model.

I know the post is long whinded and for many, probably not worth the read. STuff you already know and are familiar with.

I'm hoping it may be useful for a newer collector. I receive quite a few requests about sword cleaning, maint, grip wire replacement, repeening, and so-on in regards to Army sabers. My meathods are a combination of trial and error and are heavily comprehensive and reliant on the experiences of others, many whom are members here and who's insight from years of collecting is invaluable.

Sword-Fish,

I use sudsy amonia too. I agree with you that the hilt should not normally be immersed in amonia or water but one has to wash off the amonia with water so I run it lightly under the faucet to do that. I then use my wife's hair dryer (don't let her catch you doing this) on a cool or medium setting to make certain the wooden grip and wire (on a P guard such as yours) gets dry. I normally use semichrome on the blade which removes grunge and some darkening. I normally simply use non-spray gun oil on the scabbards.

I use a sort of mental matrix to decide what I want the sword to look like after I finish cleaning it. I do this before I touch it with any cleaner and I stop often during the process to make certain that I am not overcleaning. I typically start with the blade as these were generally finished bright and most often to return it to a bright state is the easiest decision to make.

Some swords need a good overall cleaning and polish while I leave some hilts uncleaned. It all depends upon the overall condition of the sword. I always try to stabilize deterioration such as active rust, verdigris, zink pest, leather rot, etc.

Here is an interesting example where I only cleaned and protected the blade. I left the hilt entirely uncleaned with the original grunge and patina. I only wiped the scabbard with an oily rag. While the hilt would certainly polish up nicely, I elected not to polish it to show the contrast between the very common enlisted hilt and the triple etched blade. I almost did not pull this sword out of the scabbard as it sat in the corner of a dealer's shop in a barrel of old swords. I left it this way to remind myself that beauty is not always only skin deep. It helps remind me to pick up those plain-Jane examples and look at them a bit more closely.

George,
That's a pretty nice score, especially if she came at plain hilted EM prices. I feel that these, along with other plain hilters like an nice heavy brass ord. saber, can wear thier patina well. Gilted pieces just don't do it though. Birds of a different feather..and clearly reflected in demand and market value today.

I do just about everything in my power to ensure water stay off her wooden core. It's a flounder I don't want to fiddle with. And one of the keys with homemade sudsy is to keep the formula on the diluted side. Soap wise, it must be added very sparingly. Results are typically very good. More often than not i'm able to leave the hilts as they are found. Every now and again, one needs to be treated, like my ACS. The potion does wonders. Alot of collectors overlook simple cleaning solutions like sudsy and think along a linear plane in terms of Semichrome only...often to thier detriment.

Nice piece George.

I absolutly agree with you about trying to keep the hilt as dry as possible. No point in cracking the grip just to clean the hilt.

Thanks for the kudos. I picked this sword up about 15-20 years ago for just slightly more than what a standard plain-Jane NCO with a plain blade went for at the time. It is a Höller Nr.1 with a time in service etch to the 36th Infantry Regiment. These particular etches are quite scarce in my experience.

George

George-
She's a looker. The etches really add alot to a plain piece like these EM sabers. That's one to keep around for sure.