Spanish M1907 Puerto-Seguro cavalry saber
Measurements
Model 1908-1918 Spanish "Puerto-Seguro" cavalry saber. Perfectly straight
military sabres with T-back reinforced blades and half-basket guards were the
very last gasp of weapons for horse-mounted cavalry. Some clever Brit decided
that since cavalry was completely useless in modern (1870-ish) warfare, they
might as well ditch those pesky over-long lances and charge with straight swords
extended to the fore. It's not as if they actually had any chance of ever
completing a cavalry charge ever again in the face of infantry armed with heavy
machine guns. Even more clever than the clever Brittish supplier who invented
these was the American lieutenant-someday-to-be-known-as-General George S.
Patton, who stole the idea and claimed it as his own, about two decades before
giving up on horses completely and switching over to tanks. If the British and
the Americans decided that straight sabres would save the cavalry from
obsolescence, that was good enough for every other First and Second World
military power of the time.
This blade is marked "Artilleria Fca Nacional", and "2339". Design on the basket
is two crossed straight sabres and two crossed lances with pennons. This type of
sword is an absolute terror for stabbing cardboard boxes, I've had hours of fun
with one.
Note received from a friend at Sword Forum:
length: 42"
blade: 35 1/2"
blade width: 1 1/6"
grip and pommel: 6"
guard: 4 3/4"w x 7"h x 6"l
weight 2 lbs 6.2 oz
"about the M1907 Puerto-Seguro you have recently put for sale in your
website - No, there's nothing wrong about the description. I just thought that you
might like to know that what you have there it's a trooper's weapon (the version
for officials is smaller, plus the grip slabs are plastic instead of wood),
and that the engraving on the basket was the emblem for the Cavalry Section of
the Spanish Army of that time."
