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Italian Model 1900/09 Prototype Cavalry Sabre

Posted: 10/08/17 (12:22pm)

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It is not always easy thinking of what to blog about. Things have been slow lately, I guess everyone is planning what to do with the kids now that they are off school or are already away sunning themselves. Of course, my Southern Hemisphere friends will probably not be on holiday but I am sure they are having an equally busy time.
Anyway, this week I thought I would highlight a particularly interesting and rare cavalry sabre. A sword that was ahead of the curve (no pun intended) but behind the times. Ultimately, like the British P1908 and US Patton sabre, developed too late for its own good.

The sabre I'm talking about is the very rare Italian M1900/09 prototype Cavalry Trooper's sword made by the Serafino Gnutti Arsenal in Brescia, Northern Italy.

The sabre has a narrow 91cm pipe-back blade that tapers to a spear point. It is an ideal thrusting blade made at the turn of the century when the debate as to whether the point beats the edge had been debated to exhaustion.

Cavalry regiments across Europe were adopting thrusting blades over cutting blades and were experimenting with the hilt and blade designs of their existing cavalry sabres. The frequently encountered Italian M1871 sabre was re-worked in 1909, receiving the designation 1871/09 and is a good example of this.

The Model 1900 sword was a purpose built experimental cavalry sword with a ridiculously long thrusting blade which was shortened to 91cm in 1909 and this new sword was designated the Model 1900/09. As a prototype weapon, only a small number were made and issued to chosen regiments for field-testing. Most of them saw action in Italy's Ethiopian campaign. Despite the excellence of the design (similar to the British P1908 and USA Patton Sabre), this sword was developed at a time when the use of swords in combat was at an end and as such it never went into full production.

The ricasso of this example is marked with an oval cartouche containing the letters "SFG" for the Serafino Gnutti Arsenal and above that an Italian armoury acceptance stamp. The obverse ricasso bears the number "1552" The blade has an unusual fuller on the spine, which serves to reduce weight while retaining the blades strength and makes it incredibly nimble in the hand.

The two-strap steel bowl guard has a pronounced beak and is almost identical in design to the Italian M1860 Heavy Cavalry bowl guard, giving ample protection to the hand. Interestingly, the Italian use of an indented thumb recess on their guards from the latter part of the 19th Century onwards, was dropped on this design, harkening back to the earlier, non-indented style.

The shaped wooden hilt has a crosshatch pattern with a matching contoured and crosshatched steel back strap that gives the hilt a great aesthetic and feels great to use.

This very rare experimental Italian Cavalry Sword is in my opinion one of the best cavalry sabres ever developed. It incorporates all that is loved about the P1908 and Patton sabre with added Italian style. These swords are very hard to find and do not come on to the market often.

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