C1890 French Derue Sword £450

Here we have an experimental sword that was never adopted by the military but remained so popular that they were manufactured into the 1930's.

This is a Derue Sword, an experimental design to combat the issue of there not being enough hand protection and not having a stiff enough blade on a cavalry sword. Made with a seven bar guard and a T spine blade that is over a centimetre thick at the ricasso and remains rather thick until the last ten centimetres this piece is a beast of a sword.

Original test swords were trialled in 1891 and this example is dating to 1893 making it one of the earliest commercially available versions of this sword.

Customised further with the less common floral decoration on the guard and a relief locket bearing the owners initials (it is faint but I believe it is "SA" or "FA") and manufactured by Jules Maria of Paris.

This incredibly rare sword can be yours for 450GBP or best offer