A remarkable Prussian hussar officer’s sabre, Model 1786, distinguished by an unusual French Revolutionary engraving on the blade. The curved blade bears the Gallic cockerel, a Revolutionary emblem that gives this otherwise Prussian weapon a particularly intriguing French association.

The sabre retains its brass officer’s hilt with wire-bound grip and its black leather scabbard with extensive brass mounts. The combination of Prussian origin and French Revolutionary decoration raises the possibility that the weapon was taken and subsequently embellished during the Revolutionary Wars, although in the absence of documentary evidence this should be regarded as an intriguing possibility rather than an established provenance.

Formerly in the Willemsen Collection, assembled by the father of a conservator at the Dutch Army Museum.

A highly unusual sabre whose combination of Prussian military form, Revolutionary symbolism and established collection provenance makes it a distinctive piece.