An 1897 Pattern Victorian British Empire Imperial Officer's Sword, From the Victorian British Raj Period

Made by Robert Mole of Birmingham, and bears the fully pierced hilt, with royal cypher VRI {Victoria Regina Imperatrix} Victoria, Queen Empress.
Wooden and leather FS scabbard. With original wire bound sharkskin grip.

We just acquired effectively the full set of British Infantry swords used from 1895 onwards. The Victorian 1895 pattern by Wilkinson, a Victorian 1897 pattern by Robert Mole from the British Raj in India, a King George Vth, by Wilkinson, in its WW1 FS scabbard, and a King George Vth 1897 pattern Wilkinson sword in its dress scabbard, from WW1, but also used in WW2 and still perfectly usable today, by an officer in the current service of H.M.King Charles IIIrd

Although a Victorian antique sword, this sword would have seen service use for the following two world wars.

We show two photos in the gallery of a British Raj Colonel with his same sword, and another a portrait of a British Indian Army General holding his same Raj officer's sword.

This is also the form of sword used in the Boxer Rebellion in China by the Imperial Indian Army Regiment's officers of the 24th Punjabis and 1st Sikhs who were in fact the first to reach the Legations during the seige.

The 1897 pattern British Infantry officer's sword has remained unchanged to the present day.
By the time of its introduction, the sword was of limited use on the battlefield against rapid-firing rifles, machine guns and long-range artillery. However, the new sword was regarded, when needed, as a very effective fighting weapon. Reports from the Sudan, where it was used in close-quarters fighting during the Reconquest of the Sudan 1896-99, were positive.
Field Marshal Montgomery advanced with his 1897 Pattern drawn during a counter offensive in the First World War. The actual sword he carried is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum, London.
The blade is described in the pattern as being 32+1/2 inches (830 mm) long and 1 inch (25 mm) wide at the shoulder, with the complete sword weighing between 1 lb 12oz and 1 lb 13 oz (794-822g).

The blade is straight and symmetrical in shape about both its longitudinal axes. The thick blade has a deep central fuller on each side and is rounded on both its edge and back towards the hilt, giving a “dumbbell” or “girder” cross section. Through a gradual transition, the blade becomes double edged towards the tip, and the last 17 inches (430 mm) were sharpened when on active service. The blade ends in a sharp spear point.
The guard is a three-quarter basket of pressed, plated steel. It is decorated with a pierced scroll-work pattern and had the royal cypher of the reigning monarch set over the lower knuckle bow.

The grip, between 5 and 5 ¾ inches long to suit the hand of the owner, was generally covered in ray or sharkskin and wrapped with German-silver wire. The grip is straight, with no offset to the blade.

The sword shows a number of features that indicate its intent as a thrusting weapon. The spear point and double edge towards the point aids penetration and withdrawal by incising the wound edges. The blade, whilst quite narrow, is thick and its dumbbell section gives it good weak-axis buckling strength whilst maintaining robustness in bending for the parry. The blade tapers in both width and thickness and, with the substantial guard, has a hilt-biased balance, aiding agility at the expense of concussive force in a cut.

The leather on the wooden scabbard is excellent, with typical Raj period long scabbard chape. The hilt and blade are both very bright polished, the blade is excellent condition, the hilt has light overall aged surface marking.

This photograph/file of Col Rao Bahadur Balu Singh OBI IDSM is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Nsshekhawat649

Code: 25125